HIEPtARY OF CONGRESS J 

if '9 Iw¥l ^, p 

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I UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.^ 



LIFE THAT SPEAKETH: 

% ^iopap^jr of lltb. (itorgc ^. Milsott. 

BY 

DANIEL CLARK KNOWLES. 

" He being dead yet speaketh," 



(^ 67^a^ 



NEW YORK: y 
NELSON & PHILLIPS. 

CINCINNATI : HITCHCOCK & WALDEN. 

SUNDAYUCnOOL DEPARTMENT. 






Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1874. by 

NELSON & PHILLIPS, 
In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 




Keepootfully Bedioatad 



THCEI OIT^Sr OIF' Ij-A.'W:E=LE3>Q"OE, 



CONTENTS. 



Page 
I. Parentage 7 

II. The Youth Period i8 

III. California Life 44 

IV. The Preparation Period 75 

V. Mission Work in Lawrence 96 

VI. Mission Work in Lawrence, {Continued) 125 

VII. Home-Life , 145 - 

VIII. Life Maxims 161 

IX. Mission Work in Boston 169 

X. Closing Scenes 193 

XL Personal Recollections 218 



1 



A LIFE THAT SPEAKETH. 



CHAPTER I. 

PARENTAGE. 



CHRISTIANITY glories in righteousness 
rather than in rank. She experiences 
more of joy in looking upon the luster of a holy- 
life, than in beholding the transient brilliancy 
of official greatness. This is not true of any 
other system of religion. Every faith that 
man has constructed to meet the imperishable 
yearnings of his religious nature, whether orig- 
inated from reason or formed out of the perver- 
sion of systems given him of God, bears this 
unmistakable impress of its anti-Christian char- 
acter, that it subordinates goodness to station, 
morals to earthly notoriety. Those immortal 
works of genius, semi-religious in their origin, 
that have survived the mold and flames of bar- 
baric centuries, have deified monarchs and rqya} 



8 A Life that Speaketh. 

families, and scornfully neglected the richer 
legacies of common life. They have given his- 
toric prominence to men, because, forsooth, they 
held a scepter, who ought to have been forgot- 
ten the day they died, while the humble plebeian 
who may have lived a life of heroic sacrifice, 
found at their hands no biographer. But Chris- 
tianity has a better record. She teaches us to 
cherish the good for the sake of goodness, 
and not because of the accidents of blood or 
station. 

She prompts us to treasure up those deeds of 
love and heroism that she herself has inspired, 
no matter in what social grade they may be 
found ; and in song or prose to send them out 
to the world as precious currency — the coin of 
Christ — that they may pass from lip to lip, and 
heart to heart, enriching every one with a holier 
inspiration. Hence it has come to pass that 
the Christian Church will not willingly suffer a 
noble life to perish from recollection. It mat- 
ters not on what field its deeds of sacrifice were 
performed, Christian society strives in some 
way to keep the memory of its loving labors 
fresh and lively in the public mind. 

These remarks are explanatory, not apolo- 



Parentage. 9 

getic. I feel assured that what I may write will 
need no apology. I propose to tell the public 
something about a man; not a king, nor any 
official celebrity. My soul is inspired with the 
conviction as I begin the pleasing task, that 
these things should be said, to the end that 
society may see Christianity not as a specula- 
tion or a philosophy, but as a life. These pages, 
I trust, will thus reveal it though the story be 
told never so imperfectly. 

George Pickering Wilson was born in the 
city of Lowell, Massachusetts, January 29, 1830. 
Since men are more or less the reflections of 
ancestral qualities and home influence, no 
statement of a man's character and work can 
be complete that does not unfold to us the cir- 
cumstances of his childhood, and the quality 
of his parentage. 

In the first quarter of this century two per- 
sons met in Waltham, Massachusetts, loved and 
trusted each other, and in accordance with 
God's own plan joined hands for the journey of 
life. These persons were James Wilson and 
Eliza Stetson. James Wilson came to Massa- 
cliusetts from Hudson, New Hampshire, and was 
by trade a machinist. He had united with the 



lo A Life that Speaketh. 

Methodist Episcopal Church in early life, and 
was universally esteemed an honest, industrious, 
conscientious citizei^ He was chiefly distin- 
guished for good common sense, faith in God, 
religious zeal, devout piety, and strict fidelity to 
his convictions of duty. In these days he would 
be called puritanic and over rigid. He was 
exceedingly plain in dress ; would permit no 
buttons on the back of his coat, or suffer his 
children to indulge in personal ornamentation, 
classing feathers, flowers, bows, etc., as super- 
fluities inconsistent with true godliness. If any 
of our latter-day Christians are disposed to 
sneer at such religious convictions, and rejoice 
over the emancipation of the conscience from 
such ideas, it may do them good to remember 
that New England's glory is the product of such 
heroic natures. 

It is possible so to liberalize the conscience 
as to destroy the essential spirit of Christianity, 
self-denial. Between a Christianity thus emas- 
culated and self-indulgent, and a Christianity 
strong, positive, self-sacrificing, though tinged 
with the somber shades of puritanism, there 
can be no hesitation in making one's choice. 
It is far better for society to err on the side of 



Parentage, 1 1 

rigidity than that of looseness. We should be 
very cautious, therefore, in our revolt from the 
sterner piety of the past, not to plunge our- 
selves into errors far more destructive to indi- 
vidual and social development. Mr. Wilson 
may have been rigid, but he was heroic. He 
gave himself without reserve to the Christian 
Church. His time and talents were consecrated 
to God. He met two religious classes weekly, 
until disease made it impossible. Storms, com- 
pany, slight indisposition, never detained him 
from the place of worship. His seat was never 
vacant. During his last illness he persisted in 
being dressed in his best apparel on the Sab- 
bath, that he might be outwardly prepared for 
keeping the day holy. Early in the history of 
Lowell he removed thither, secured employ- 
ment in the Lowell machine shop, then just 
opening its prosperous history, and remained in 
its employ until his death. He identified him- 
self at once with Methodism in the youthful 
city. He was one of the organizers of the 
Worthen-street Church, of which he was an 
official member as long as he lived. Class and 
prayer meetings were held weekly at his house, 
and its atmosphere was continually sanctified 



12 A Life that Speaketh. 

with praise and prayer. He died in holy tri- 
umph in the early days of 1849. His last words 
were a song of triumph — '' Halleluia, Amen." 

Such was the father of George, a devout, 
conscientious, godly man, whose name is still 
precious with the good who knew him. 

Eliza Stetson was born in Scituate, Massa- 
chusetts. Her father died in her early youth, 
leaving her mother the sole protection of ten 
children, the eldest of whom was fourteen years 
of age. Yet such was her tact and force of 
character that she brought them all to maturity, 
with God's blessing, by her own industry and 
good management. The family adhered to the 
Unitarian faith. Eliza, however, became in- 
terested in Methodism, was powerfully con- 
verted by the Holy Ghost, and united her 
fortunes with the Church of her choice. Her 
religious associations led her into the society 
of James Wilson, and they were married. The 
union was eminently a happy one ; they were 
congenial spirits. She was a devout, conscien- 
tious, loving, heroic woman, especially noted 
for sagacity, sound judgment, and purity of 
purpose. Her fidelity to Christ, and to all 
that she esteemed right, could not be shaken 



Parentage, 1 3 

by any adversity, and she made her home fra- 
grant with her womanly modesty, purity, and 
love. It is not too much to say, that she was a . 
rare character. 

God gave them seven children. James, the 
eldest, was a child of extraordinary promise. 
He died at the age of eighteen. A brief mem- 
oir, written by Rev. Jotham Horton, says, " He 
was remarkable for an early development of in- 
tellect, for ripeness and maturity of judgment. 
At the age of ten or twelve he seemed to 
have acquired the discretion of manhood. He 
was always a praying child, and from the time 
he was able to articulate words and to conceive 
thoughts, was accustomed to give utterance to 
those thoughts in addresses to his Maker, and 
probably never neglected one season of private 
devotion." 

Some of his writings are published in the 
memoir, and, for one so young, indicate most 
extraordinary intellectual endowments. They 
breathe a spirit of unusual devotion and piety, 
and show an extensive acquaintance with the 
best of literature, and a mind famihar with the 
great questions of philosophy and practical 
morals. His death-bed was a surpassingly 



14 A Life that Speaketh. 

triumphant and glorious scene. James, though 
dead, yet speaketh. His Hfe made an impres- 
sion upon George that never could be forgotten, 
and aided largely in molding him for his mis- 
sion. As the reader progresses in these pages 
he will be struck with the frequent reference 
that George makes to his sainted brother. 
John was the second child, a devout and godly 
boy, who died young. He departed in great 
peace, holding the hand of George, and speak- 
ing volumes of joy through his radiant counte- 
nance. Eliza, the eldest daughter, married a 
Mr. Stevens, removed to Chicago, and died 
early. George, the subject of this memoir, was 
the fourth child. Fanny grew to womanhood, 
and died at twenty. Mary married a Mr. Parker, 
lived in Chicago, and died early. Gabriella, the 
youngest, married Matthew Elliot, and lives in 
St. Albans^ Vermont, the sole survivor of the 
family. All were members of the Methodist 
Episcopal Church, all manifested a pious spirit, 
and, with the single exception of the one still 
living, whose faith in the Lord Jesus Christ 
locates her treasures also in heaven, all died 
in the blissful hope of a glorious immortality. 
Such was the ancestry, and such the home- 






Parentage. 1 5 

life, of George P. Wilson. It will be' profitable 
for us to pause just here and reflect on these 
facts. Christianity in its silent progress in 
society has made us all sensitive to social evils. 
Probably there never was a period in human 
history when men and women were more alive 
to the great moral problems that concern human 
happiness than the present. The most popular 
questions of the day are those that look to social 
regeneration. Reformers are as thick as stars 
in a midnight sky. Each one has fastened his 
grip upon some injustice, some social wrong ; 
and with the energy of injured feelings prates 
upon it to every listening ear, and for every 
evil he has his specific. These theories are 
also as thick as the stars. The masses are con- 
fused with their very multitude, and the din of 
voices with which they are thrust before the 
public. Now, in this clamor and confusion, it 
will be well for society to keep its eye stead- 
fastly on the polar star that God has set for 
our guidance in regenerating society, namely. 
Home. Society is but the gathering up of 
home influences. The nation is the sum total 
of its home products. With whafa dignity 
does this invest the parental relation ! The 



1 6 A Life that Speaketh. 

father is a true king ; the mother a heaven- 
crowned queen. They are the divinely-ap- 
pointed police of the State. They are better 
equipped to produce order and peace than iron- 
clad navies or emblazoned ranks of soldiery. 
They are the legislators of the land ; the na- 
tion's real presidents and governors. Woe 
to the Republic, when it looks to its battle- 
fields, its congressional assemblies, its executive 
chairs, or its police stations, as the sources of 
social reformation. These are all aids, instru- 
mentalities, and should be used in their appro- 
priate spheres most vigorously and impartially ; 
but the hope of society is in its homes. It is 
the office of the Church to purify them and 
make them holy, not to take their place. 

If the Sabbath-school should ever be re- 
garded as a substitute, it would become an ob- 
stacle to Christianity rather than an aid. Amid 
the conflict of reformatory theories, the nation 
is safe if it does not lose sight of its homes as 
its central hope. As long as we cling tena- 
ciously to these, and make them Christian, our 
Republic will stand. But what shall we say to 
those who openly seek their ruin, who decry 
marriage, and anathematize the strictest prin- 



Parentage, 17 

ciples of parental responsibility ? Are they not 
enemies of the Republic, social disorganizers, 
crafty allies of Satan ? If we are to judge a 
home by its moral and spiritual fruitage, can 
we not pronounce that of the Wilson family a 
model ? We do not claim for it perfection, 
but it does deserve our admiration. It was 
truly a Christian home. The parents were un- 
worldly, self-sacrificing ; they ruled well their 
house, and sought by prayer and holy examples 
to make their children virtuous, wise, and good. 
In that unpretending sanctuary, where pleas- 
antry was not forbidden ; where gladness found 
a daily song, but where sinful frivolity was ex- 
cluded ; where strict integrity and unselfish de- 
votion to God and man were inculcated every 
day ; where love and kindness ruled all hearts 
and knit them together as one ; where only the 
best of literature found favor ; where prayer and 
praise were a constant inspiration, was born and 
reared the hero of our story, the pure, the good, 
the great-hearted missionary — 

" GEORGE p. WILSON." 



1 8 A Life that Speaketh. 



CHAPTER II. 
the youth period. 

'T^HE experiences of childhood are like 
-■- dew-drops on the flowers, sparkling but 
evanescent. They leave a precious influence 
on the soul, but not much of solid fact for 
biographies. The childhood of George was 
very much like that of all little boys — a gay 
and joyous era, a period of playfulness and in- 
nocent roguery. His was a fresh, sparkling 
nature, in a constant ebullition of fun and frolic. 
But it was always the roguery of the kitten, 
the friskiness of the lamb — innocent, harmless, 
free from the spirit of injustice. Growing on the 
stock of such a natural and ordinary childhood, 
were traits that distinguished him as no com- 
mon character — traits that matured afterward 
into a royal manhood. When but a mere child, 
he habitually and devoutly recognized God in 
acts of devotion. On one occasion he sat at 
the table awaiting his father's coming. He was 



The Youth Period, 19 

hungry. His father was delayed. Sitting in 
his little chair, he looked longingly at the good 
things that had been prepared. He grew im- 
patient under the pressure of his appetite ; and 
suddenly, having held his hunger as long as his 
child-nature could endure it, he rose up, clasped 
his hands, thanked God for daily food, and, 
having satisfied his conscience in the matter 
of grace, proceeded deliberately to satisfy his 
bodily necessities. At another time the children 
were left alone with the baby sister. George 
proposed a prayer-meeting, and devoutly and 
reverently they knelt around the cradle, and 
poured out childish petitions into the Fathers 
listening ear. " O Lord," said he, '' give us 
good faith, good hearts, and good doctrine." 
The reader will detect no Pharisaical platitudes 
in this prayer. When eight or ten years of age 
he began his missionary work. He chose at 
that early period to be an apostle to the poor. 
If he discovered any to be in want, he took 
their cases on his heart, went round among his 
friends soliciting money and provisions, and 
thus aided the needy. 

Thanksgiving has a special charm to a New 
England boy. Fancy then becomes an artist, 



20 A Life that Speaketh. 

and paints most gorgeous pictures, as the short- 
ening days remind him of the coming festival. 
The unusual bustle in the pantry and kitchen ; 
the merry and incessant culinary talk ; the pal- 
lid pies awaiting the heated oven ; the marvel- 
ous preparations going on all over the house ; 
the expected advent of aunts and uncles and 
romping cousins ; the general toning up of 
every thing about the home life, make boys 
wide awake and frisky with anticipations of 
games, unctuous gravies, doughnuts, and brown- 
breasted turkeys. George was especially fond 
of Thanksgivings. They were jubilees to him, 
but chiefly because it gave him an opportunity 
to gladden so many of his poorer neighbors. 
On one occasion, when the turkey was ready 
for the family feast, and the luscious dinner 
was smoking on the table, he came rushing in 
with a face radiant with a holy purpose. " O 
mother," said he, ''I have found a family with- 
out any dinner ! They are poor and hungry, 
and I want to take our turkey to them. We 
can do without it, and it will make them so 
happy ! " 

The man was but the boy grown up. It was 
no uncommon thing for the little fellow to rush 



The Youth Period, 21 

into a neighbor's kitchen, when he scented the 
fragrant pies, and beg one or two to carry to 
the poor. These were his early lessons in 
benevolence. 

George was somewhat of a tease in a broth- 
erly way. His sisters came in for a full share 
in his playful roguery. Once upon a time his 
mother lectured him, with a mother s velveted 
words, for his besetting sin. 

" Ah, George," said the good woman, " I do 
not know what I shall do with you, you are so 
roguish with your sisters ! " 

*' Well, mother," was the reply, "I am glad I 
have some sisters and brothers, and I tell you 
what I want them to do : they must make a lot 
of money, for I shall want it some day for the 
good cause." 

As he grew older he caused his mother great 
anxiety. He was intensely active. His vitality 
was so full that he could not be still. His rest- 
lessness alarmed her motherly instinct. She 
feared he might forget his home instructions 
and go astray. 

One morning he went out expecting soon to 
return. Hours wore away, and he came not. 
His mother grew nervous with excitement. Such 



22 A Life that Speaketh. 

an experience was unusual. She could get no 
tidings of her lost boy. At noon he returned, 
all radiant with the gladness of a good deed. 
He had met an old man, pale and sickly, trudg- 
ing along with a great burden. He had offered 
his services ; had helped him home, and with a 
light heart had returned to allay his mother's 
fears. *^ Wist ye not that I must be about my 
Father's business ? " 

George's generosity and kind deeds gained 
for him an unusual notoriety. His conduct was 
known to many who did not know his person. 
His name was once spoken in a public place, 
in the presence of a Unitarian minister. The 
clergyman turned and looked at him for a mo- 
ment with deep interest, and grasping his hand 
said, ''Are you the boy of whom I have heard 
so much among the poor ? " He then thanked 
him heartily for his kindness to some of the 
indigent families under his care who had been 
relieved by George's ministrations. These are 
specimens of the spirit of the young missionary. 

But we would not leave a false impression. 
George was not a saint. Sometimes, not often, 
corrupted human nature asserted its sovereign- 
ty. It was winter time. The ice upon the 



The Youth Period, 23 

canal had thickened with the increasing cold. 
He had a new pair of skates, and the desire to 
try their metal was at white heat. His mother 
had forbidden him to go upon the ice until its 
thickness should assure his safety. His obedi- 
ence to his mother was usually unwavering ; 
but this was a special case, and he fretted in 
his subjection. Falling in with some boys, his 
submission gave way before their solicitations, 
and, stealing away with his skates, he ran to 
the ice with his companions. For a time he 
rejoiced in his freedom and sport, but at last the 
treacherous ice gave way, and he was plunged 
into the cold waters. His comrades rescued 
him with difficulty, and when safely ashore, he 
saw standing at a distance his mother, shading 
her eyes with her hand, and looking in every 
direction for her lost boy. 

With a heart palpitating with fear he ran to 
her side, his clothes stiff with ice, and his teeth 
chattering with cold and apprehensions of pun- 
ishment. His mother took his hand in silence, 
led him home, and without a word of condemna- 
tion sent him to bed, and administered to him 
such remedies as would save him from injury. 
George fell asleep. Night came on ; he awoke. 



24 A Life that Speaketh. 

There, by his bedside, knelt his mother, her eyes 
red with weeping, praying for her guilty son. 
It broke his heart. He plead for a mother's 
pardon, and a mother's kiss, and he received 
them both. In that hour his obedience was 
perfected. Never again did he disobey her 
commands. 

He was a great favorite with little children. 
When he came home from school, the little 
urchins of the neighborhood, would turn out 
in shouting squads to greet him. It was no 
unusual sight to see him sitting on a doorstep, 
with a briofht-eved bov on either shoulder, 
and others wriggling around him, all crowing 
in childish ecstasy. These artistic groupings 
were but prophecies of those frequent ovations 
which he received in after years as he passed 
through the streets of Lawrence. 

In very early youth George entered the Sab- 
bath-school. He was somewhat of a torment in 
the infant class. Not that he was disobedient 
and sly, but restless — full of moving vitality. 
But at times he would come to the teacher's 
rescue. If she was not present at the imme- 
diate opening of the school, he would assume 
authoritv, hush the little ones into silence, and 



The Youth Period, 25 

keep order until the teacher came. His popu- 
larity and genial way gave him no little power 
over his peers, and oftentimes he would secure 
quiet when others would have failed. At an 
early age he was promoted to a class whose 
teacher was noted for tact and fidelity. Here 
he remained for years a faithful scholar. He 
always had good lessons. At twelve years of 
age he would quote from the Commentary of 
Dr. Clarke with ministerial gravity. His teach- 
er gained a commanding influence over him. 
His letters and diaries abound in grateful allu- 
sions to her fidelity. Years after he had com- 
menced his life work he acknowledged, in a 
letter to his teacher, the debt of gratitude he 
owed, her for her faithful ministrations. That 
letter we give, as an encouragement to all who 
labor in this department of Christian activity : — 

" Lawrence, Mass., Sept, 6, 1852. 

" My dear Sister C : I have wanted to 

see you for a long time, but have not had an 
opportunity. I called last July, but, unfortu- 
nately, you were away. I want to tell you how 
your prayers have been answered, and what 
God has done for me. Ever since I was a way- 



26 A Life that Speaketh. 

ward child in your Sabbath-school class, at 
Worthen-street, your influence for good has 
been with me, and I thank my God now that 
you ever cared for my soul. Although seem- 
ingly careless and indifferent when you used 
to labor with me, yet your instructions took 
root, and, I trust, are now bringing forth some 
fruit. When far away upon the trackless ocean, 
or wandering in foreign climes, the influence of 
those Sabbath-school instructions were with 
me, restraining me from evil and leading me 
to do good. When far away from home, upon 
the ocean, I was led to give my heart more 
fully to God, and I resolved with his help to 
be a Christian, and if ever I was permitted to 
get home to New England again I would join 
the Church, and endeavor to do my duty to 
God, to the Church, and to my fellow-men. I 
have been trying to do this, and God has gra- 
-ciously blessed me — blessed me in my own soul, 
by filling it with peace and calm enjoyment and 
a blessed prospect of a home in heaven. And 
he has blessed me in being an instrument in 
his hands of turning some to righteousness. 
Since my dear mother was called home I have 
had nothing until very recently to keep me here, 



The Youth Period, 27 

and I have been so ungrateful at times as to 
find myself wishing to go too. It was a selfish 
wish, for God has been so good to me all my 
life-time that I feel it a duty to do all I can to 
advance the cause of Christ, and to stay just as 
long on this earth as he has any work for me 
to do. And when I cease to labor for God, or 
to be useful, I want him to take me away. My 
business gives me favorable opportunities for 
conversing with many people, and I shall have 
much more to answer for if I do not do my duty. 
I bless God that I am above all fear of man. 
My ambition is to be a true, humble servant of 
God ; and I am willing to talk of Jesus, or dis- 
tribute tracts, or pray with seekers, or do any 
thing else I can do. Forgive me if I do wrong 
in speaking so much of myself; I thought you 
would like to hear this. I have a Sabbath- 
school class that commenced with one scholar, 

Sister Abba S , formerly of Worthen-street, 

Lowell, and now I have thirty, the most of 
them quite young ladies. I feel fully my respon- 
sibility as a teacher, and I reah'ze the great aim 
of all teaching should be the salvation of the 
human soul. I have felt a deep solicitude for 
this class, and have labored much for them. 



28 A Life that Speaketh. 

God has been with us, and that to bless these 
souls. The most of them are now Christians. 
Six have experienced religion within four weeks, 
and four more are now seeking. O, have I not 
reason to praise God for his great goodness to 
my class ! Pray for us that we may be faithful. 
These souls give evidence of sound conversion. 
Our Church here is in rather a backslidden 
state. 

''A great many of our members neglect to 
attend class, and are not punctual in other 
duties. Yet there is evidently a coming up to 
the help of the Lord. Many have been quick- 
ened and have set out anew. Our pastor urged 
me for a long time to take a^class, and finally 
gave me one of fifty-five members, only about 
twelve of whom went to the meeting regularly. 
They were all old members, some of them old 
enough to be my grandfather. I told him I 
could not lead a class without seeing my mem- 
bers once a week. He got another leader for 
that class, and formed one of four members 
from other classes for me. I have now twenty- 
one regular attendants, ten of them new con- 
verts. But I do want your prayers that I may 
have grace and strength according to my need. 



The Youth Period, 29 

Sister Fanny, I suppose you have learned, is 
near her journey's end. Yes, my dear sister is 
soon to go home. Well, she is only going a 
few months before we shall have to meet her. 
She is happy, trusting in God, and willing to 
go. I cannot wish her to stay, yet it is hard to 
part with one after another of my family. But, 
bless God ! they are all praising him around 
his throne, and by the grace of God we will 
meet them there, will we not 1 Remember me 

to Aunt M , with much love ; also to Sister 

K- , and all whom we mutually know. I 

should be very happy to hear from you. I am 
afraid I have written too much, but trust you 
will forgive me. 

"May God bless you now and ever is the 
prayer of your brother, George." 

This letter gives us the key-note of his 
career. Self-consecration to God and a ruined 
race is the fundamental tone that runs with 
silvery harmony through the whole song of 
his life, and to which all its modulations are 
referred. 

His educational advantages were limited. 
He received a good EngHsh training in the 



30 A Life that Speaketh. 

grammar-school — no more. The necessities of 
his father compelled him to leave his studies, 
and assist in maintaining the family. The long 
illnesses of his brothers, the delicate health of 
his mother, and the decline of his fathers 
strength, threw burdens upon him at an early 
age, that compelled him to lay aside his books 
and take up the tools of the mechanic. And 
yet we should do him gross injustice to call 
him illiterate or uneducated. True, he never 
received a diploma; but diplomas are not al- 
ways truthful. Society has learned to distrust 
their testimony. Institutions of learning and 
rigorous courses of study are invaluable, but it 
is not every one who has enjoyed their advan- 
tages, and borne away their tokens of culture, 
who is educated. Mr. Wilson never graduated 
at a college or a high-school, but he had been 
subjected to a discipline that had made him 
superior to many who had nominally passed 
the examinations of these institutions. He had 
read and studied and meditated the best of 
books ; he had been an attentive listener to the 
discussion of the profoundest questions ; he 
had learned to examine, reflect, and hold opin- 
ions, and, for one of his years, had passed 



The Youth Period, 31 

through an excellent course of reading. It is 
all folly to call such a man uneducated, in com- 
parison with multitudes who drag along lazily 
through the prescribed course of study, without 
any intelligent conception of its meaning, and 
come forth flaunting in the face of society a 
lifeless parchment. Let us confine ourselves 
within the boundaries of fact and say that he 
was denied educational advantages, which he 
regretted to the day of his death. Only a few 
months before his decease he said to his wife, 
"Emily, if somebody would give us enough 
money to support my family, I would go now 
and secure a thorough education." Possibly 
his life might not have been any more fruitful 
of good to the world had he received a colle- 
giate training ; but with the same spirit of 
consecration, I cannot doubt that, with his 
unselfish soul-life, his range of activities would 
have been wider, and his usefulness corre- 
spondingly increased. It is sad when we see 
young men compelled by home circumstances 
to forego a liberal education ; but the history of 
Mr. Wilson is a perpetual reminder that even 
wanting these advantages — 

" We can make our lives sublime." 



32 A Life that Speaketh. 

One fact in his life demands attention just 
here. When eighteen years of age he visited 
the family of an uncle residing in Brooklyn, 
Connecticut. Here he made the acquaintance 
of his cousin, Myra, a young lady of rare quali- 
ties of mind and heart. Delicacy requires us 
to speak cautiously of the living, but this lady 
is so intimately associated with George's soul- 
life that we cannot do either justice without 
revealing the character of that friendship. 
Myra was a woman of varied culture, devoted 
piety, and benevolence of feeling. She saw 
with a woman's quick perceptions the noble 
nature of her cousin. She began a process of 
silent culture that inspired him with the holiest 
ambitions. It was just such a tuition as a boy 
of his years needed, a species of education too 
much neglected. At once the majesty of life 
burst upon him. He saw as never before his 
own deficiencies, and, with the simplicity of a 
child, he sought instruction and culture at her 
hands. A correspondence began between them 
that was continued through his life with the 
mutual devotion of pure friendship. I feel it a 
pleasure to express, in the name of a grateful 
pubhc, our thanks to that Christian lady for the 






The Youth Period, 33 

influence of her character and culture upon the 
aims and ambitions of our departed brother. 

Extracts from his letters to his cousin will 
be freely inserted in these pages as indicative 
of his inner life. One, written soon after his 
return home from Brooklyn, will reveal his in- 
terest in good works : — 

'"'December i6, 1848. 

**My Dear Cousin M : ... I make it 

a point to converse with one or more persons 
every day who are addicted to bad habits, and^ 
try to reform them. With a temperance pledge 
in one hand, an anti-swearing pledge in the 
other, and an anti-tobacco pledge in my pocket, 
I consider myself fully * armed and equipped,* 
and almost daily I succeed in getting some 
signers. I will give you, cousin, an account of 
one of the happiest days of my life. The day 
before Thanksgiving ... I went to the shop, 
and after working about an hour, I thought I 
would try and do something for * poor suffering 
humanity.' 

**Case I. A poor man was sick with con- 
sumption ; had six motherless children, the 
oldest twelve. I thought that some 'thanks- 



34 A Life that Speaketh. 

giving' would be very acceptable. I got nine 
shillings with the intention of buying him a 
turkey, but finding that he needed the money 
the most, I let him have it. But I was deter- 
mined that his children should have a feast, so 
I gathered together from our house and the 
neighbors a bushel of provisions, consisting of 
potatoes, apples, eggs, mince pies, etc., and if 
you could have seen the faces of those happy 
children it would have gratified your kind heart. 
Surely *it is more blessed to give than to 
receive.' 

" Case 2. A reformed drunkard who had 
been induced to sign the pledge. I knew he 
was destitute, and I went round and collected 
three dollars in about fifteen minutes. . . . We 
had to use great caution in presenting them, so 
as not to hurt his feelings, but succeeded, and 
the tears rolled down his cheeks when he told 
us he knew not how to thank us. . . . 

" Case 3. A young man who is out of work, 
and considerably in debt. He tries as hard as 
he can to support his family, but owing to mis- 
management is somewhat involved. He owed 
me five dollars, and knowing that this troubled 
him I forgave him the debt, ' for as we forgive 



The Youth Period, 35 

our debtors, so shall it be forgiven us/ I found 
when I got home that some unknown friend 
had sent us two beautiful turkeys. 'What 
measure ye mete shall be measured to you 
again/ After working all the afternoon in the 
shop I rode twenty miles to procure a temper- 
ance lecturer, for amid all the balls, theaters, 
etc., we thought we might have a temperance 
lecture." 

Such was the school life of Mr. Wilson— -a 
life of benevolent activity. Would that our 
colleges had such a department ! In that case 
the barbarisms of hazing would be unknown. 
John Wesley and the godly band did have 
such a university education, but no thanks to 
Oxford. 

Mr. Wilson's religious experience was char- 
acterized by no extraordinary epochs. In early 
youth his thoughts took deeper root, and he 
manifested a growing seriousness. But we will 
let him tell his own story. 

"Nashua, May 16, 1851. 
" My Dear Cousin Myra : . . . Did we not 
at one time in our correspondence say some- 
what of our religious experiences ? I have felt 



36 A Life that Speaketh, 

differently while away and since I came home 
than for some years before. When quite young 
I became deeply impressed with religious feel- 
ings, and gave my heart, as I thought, to the 
cause of God. I then joined the Church. In 
a little while after my mind became very much 
confused, and I v/ent to my pastor and asked 
him to have my name taken from the Church 
books, and after much entreaty with me he 
took it off. I have since thought this to be the 
one great mistake, for while it m.ay be possible 
to live a Christian life out of the Church, yet it 
is not so easy, especially with us Methodists, 
for we have many social gatherings where we 
meet together to speak of the goodness of God 
and pray for his blessing. After I had sailed 
for California I was exposed to much tempta- 
tion to do wickedly. I then made up my mind 
if I would live happily on earth with my friends 
after my return, if I would be united with the 
members of the family who had gone to *yon 
blissful region,' I must not yield to temptation, 
and, by daily prayer to God, I was kept in a 
great measure from evil. I then made up my 
mind that if lever got back to my own dear 
New England I would join some Church, and 



The Youth Period, 37 

identify myself with some Christian people. 
Since I came to Nashua I have done this. I 
feel now more contented and happy, and a more 
earnest desire to get and do good." 

Here is a case for study. By a fact stated 
in the letter we are enabled to settle quite def- 
initely that George was twelve or thirteen years 
of age at the time of his first religious expe- 
rience. Now what was that confusion of mind 
of which he speaks that led to his withdrawal } 
Incidentally, his Sabbath-school teacher has fur- 
nished the information. His child-conscience 
was offended by the unchristian conduct of cer- 
tain Church members, and he was thrown by it 
into spiritual darkness. 

" But whoso shall offend one of these little 
ones which believe in me, it were better for him 
that a millstone were hanged about his neck, 
and that he were drowned in the depth of the 
sea." The obstacle to child-religion is not so 
much in the child as in the Church. Mr. Wil- 
son was no doubt exceedingly sensitive to right 
and wrong, and any conduct unbecoming a 
Christian would make deep impressions on his 
inexperienced mind, The fear lest he, too, 



38 A Life that Speaketh. 

should be guilty of such actions would natu- 
rally throw him into a state of apprehension, 
and insensibly destroy his peace of mind. Pos- 
sibly he lacked a confidential counselor in this 
crisis, and becoming more and more confused, 
gave way to despair, and withdrew from the 
Church lest he might injure the cause of God. 
O, how many truly converted children are left 
to go astray for want of Church nursing ! It 
was his one great mistake, as he tells us, and I 
trust some tempted soul may be saved from a 
like disaster by his experience. Occasionally 
he attended the religious classes, but avoided 
an open espousal of religion. 

At eighteen George's father died of that fell 
disease that had already taken away both of 
his brothers— consumption. These repeated 
bereavements wrought deeply upon his relig- 
ious feeling. He drew gradually toward a life 
of faith in the Son of God, yet hesitated to 
take upon himself the vows of Church-fellow- 
ship, and thus stood aloof from a full committal 
to Christ. 

About the time of his father s death he be- 
gan to experience the premonitory symptoms 
to lung difficulties. Alarmed by the hereditary 



The Youth Period, 39 

tendencies of his family, it was thought advis- 
able by his friends that he should seek a change 
of climate. The California gold fever was 
raging at that time with great violence. Thou- 
sands were leaving their homes for the new 
Eldorado. Marvelous stories were circulated 
of the climate, the richness of the gold dig- 
gings, and the fortunes acquired in a day. A 
party was forming in Lowell, and George, con- 
vinced that the disease which was upon him 
must speedily be shaken off or life forfeited, 
proposed to his mother to go to California in 
quest of health and gold. 

Though as loth to part with her son as her 
own right eye, yet the dread of another^ visit 
from the dark-winged angel led her to give her 
consent to his proposal. In the spring of 1849 
he arranged for his journey. And now I take 
pleasure in commending an act of kindness and 
confidence that proves how highly he was es- 
teemed. Mr. Wilson was penniless. He was 
unable to meet the expense of such a trip. In 
this emergency ten persons came forward and 
loaned him the needed funds, taking no adequate 
security for its being repaid beyond his word. 
He gave them a pledge he would pay them 



40 A Life that Speaketh. 

according to certain conditions if he could. It 
is not necessary for me to say it was paid to 
the last farthing, as some of the parties now 
living can testify. These obHgations were can- 
celed with the same fidelity as if bound by the 
best of legal documents. 

It was April when he embarked, at Boston, 
on the sailing vessel *' Areatus " for a passage 
to California by way of Cape Horn. He went 
out as a member of the " Bay State and Califor- 
nia Mining Company/' numbering about one 
hundred and fifty men. 

While lying in Boston harbor he received a 
letter from his mother, which we give as a speci- 
men of her feelings toward her son : — 

*' Lowell, Mass., April i, 1849. 

"My Dear Boy: Your letter last evening 
was received with great joy. Not being able to 
learn all the week whether you had sailed or 
not, and the weather being so bad I could not 
get out to gain any information, I suffered con- 
siderable anxiety, and unless you had written I 
should have had a t^d Sabbath to-day. 

" I am glad you did not have to stay in Bos» 
ton all these gloomy days. You cannot tell 



The Youth Period. 41 

how much you have bepn in your mother's 
heart, and how many times she has prayed that 
God would bless and cheer her beloved child, 
and overrule these delays for good, and teach 
you to look to Him who is the center of all 
happiness that is permanent. I have faith to 
believe that God will bless your undertaking. 
Pray on, my dear boy, and be assured your 
mother vi^ill never cease to pray for you as long 
as she breathes. May you have all the grace 
and courage you need to meet every emer- 
gency ! and God will give it you, my son, if you 

continue to look to him. I called on Mrs. D , 

and she kindly invited me to go with her to 
Boston to her friends, and we could go on board 
the ship and . see you once more. I think I 
shall come, the Lord willing, with her, and per- 
haps go out and see M . Fanny sends love. 

" Dear, dear boy, good-bye till then/* 

Thus we see George, as he journeyed to this 
distant land, living in the fullest enjoyment of 
a mother^s supplications. It was not for wealth 
she prayed. Her pious heart appreciated other 
treasures more than gold. She sought for her 
son heart-purity, a holy life, and a safe return. 



42 A Life that Speaketh. 

How often parents insensibly impress on their 
children a permanent unbelief in the integrity 
of Christians, resulting in their moral ruin, 
by a seeming or real indifference to the treas- 
ures of heaven, while they are incessantly prat- 
ing about money, and the advantages of wealth. 
The monstrous defalcations in our moneyed 
institutions may sometimes be traced to a per- 
nicious home culture, magnifying the good of 
gold by a perpetual torrent of secular conversa- 
tion, and being as dumb as stones about the 
superior excellence of a good name and a pure 
heart. Mrs. Wilson made no such mistake. 
She had trained her boy from the cradle to 
value reputation, manliness, purity of life, and 
integrity of character, far above the golden 
treasures of earth. Just before he sailed his 
mother visited him on shipboard. She gave 
him, as a parting token, a small book of 
Scripture texts, on the fly leaf of which was 
written : — 

" ' It was said of one, he feared not, had Heaven decreed it, 
To have stood averse against a world, 
And singly good.' 

" Fear God, my son, and you need have noth- 
ing else to fear. From Mother." 



The Youth Period, 43 

We shall see how her boy obeyed this heroic 
advice. 

The parting scene was most affecting. Em- 
bracing her son with all the tenderness of a 
mothers love, amid blinding tears she lifted 
up her voice, and gave utterance to the sorrows 
of separation in these prophetic words : " George, 
I commend you to God, and though we never 
meet again, my prayers shall not be lost ; you 
will be saved." They met no more on earth. 
Faith penetrates the vail of the invisible world, 
and discovers their glad reunion in the spirit- 
land. Mr. Wilson returned to his New England 
home to find it desolated by death, and his 
dearest earthly friend resting in the grave. 



44 A Life that Speaketh. 



CHAPTER III. 

CALIFORNIA LIFE. 

ABOUT half past eleven on the morning of 
April 5, 1849, the " Areatus" swung away 
from her moorings in Boston, and commenced 
her voyage to the land of gold. Sea voyages 
are so similar, and so often described, that we 
pass over all allusions to the inevitable disgust 
of the first few days, and other incidents of ship- 
life, and invite the reader to those selections, 
from a very full diary, that unfold the character 
of the man as manifested in his new expe- 
riences : — 

" Thursday^ April 19,— -Weather continues 
very pleasant. We are all quite well and 
happy. Our decks present a lively scene ; al- 
most all are busy ; some usefully employed, 
others foolishly, and, perhaps, wickedly. It is 
not to be expected that one hundred and fifty 
men, coming together as we have, will all be 
strictly moral and virtuous. Thank heaven ! we 
have a large number who are conscientiously 



California Life. 45 

upright, and maintain their integrity of char- 
acter. Not that I think any of our company 
are willfully bad, or would be guilty of any fla- 
grant offense ; but there are a great many who 
indulge in bad habits. The habit of profane 
swearing is the one I refer to more particularly. 
I am pained exceedingly to hear so much pro- 
fanity. We have men, I am sorry to say, who 
cannot utter a single sentence without an oath. 
If persons would only consider how soon they 
become accustomed to this habit they would be 
much less inclined to commence it. At most 
times, no doubt, no harm is intended ; but the 
continual disregard of God's commands is cer- 
tainly a heinous offense. It is so horrid to 
think that young men who are beginning life, 
who should see the necessity of strict princi- 
ples and firm integrity, will yield to such a 
' God-abhorred habit. I sincerely hope that 
some of our men will soon swear not at all." 

" Tuesday y June 5. — To-day I have been 
reading * Combe on the Constitution of Man ;* 
also have read two of Dr. Beecher's lectures to 
young men, which I must admire, because they 
are so truthful and plain. Would that more 
young men would profit by them ! For relaxa- 



46 A Life that Speaketh. 

tion I occasionally read a little in Mrs. HalFs 
truthful and touching * Lights and Shadows of 
Irish Life/ " 

" Saturday, yune 9. — We have been out sixty- 
six days, and have completed nearly half of our 
voyage, and a remarkably fortunate one thus 
far it has been. God grant it may continue 
so ! How often in my thoughts am I carried 
back to my own fair, happy New England ! 
How often am I reminded of a mother's love 
and prayers, and a sister's anxiety ! How 
much I should delight to see them to-night, to 
assure them of my own safety, and hear of their 
welfare ! How I would love to look on them 
all once more ! I live in hope of returning to 
my native land and dear, dear friends. Not a 
day passes but I have thoughts of and pray 
for them." 

*' Wednesday, June 20. — Been reading Tup- 
per s ' Crock of Gold.' It is an interesting, 
moral, and profitable story, and may be read 
with much advantage. I like Tupper, for I 
think he tries to elevate the lower class of peo- 
ple, purify their minds, and redress their 
wrongs." 

** Sunday, yune 24. — My mind has been prof- 



California Life, 47 

itably employed to-day in reading my Bible and 
studying Wayland's 'Moral Science/ from which 
book I think one may derive a great many 
truths and lessons to be followed every day. I 
have also been reading the memoir of my be- 
loved brother James, who is now, I have no 
doubt, in heaven. God grant that I may fol- 
low his worthy example, and one day meet him 
in that haven of rest ! I am much pleased to 
see the Sabbath so well respected as it is by 
the majority of the association. But how un- 
like our own dear New England Sabbaths ! I 
live in hope of once more enjoying those priv- 
ileges. God grant it ! Amen." 

*' Wedftesday, yiine 27. — It is so cold that I 
cannot write to-night. Suffer considerably with 
cold feet. Have been reading Frost's ' Pictorial 
History of the United States.' Like it much." 

" Thursday, ytine 28. — I manage to keep up 
my reading, though suffering much with cold 
feet." 

" Saturday, yune 30. — The tendency of our 
debating society, I think, will be beneficial, for 
it already has engaged the attention of some 
who heretofore were not so profitably em- 
ployed." 



48 A Life that Speaketh. 

This debating society, of which Mr. Wilson 
speaks, was extemporized to enliven the voyage 
and improve their talking talents. It is not in 
the order of things to bring together one hun- 
dred and fifty descendants of the metaphysical 
Puritans without a discussion. When Bishop 
Asbury rode into New England with a free and 
full salvation he was met at every point with 
the challenge " to argue the case." This society 
seems to have flourished for a time with great 
enthusiastn. The questions discussed were 
moral, social, and eminently practical ones. 

*' Tuesday, yuly 2. — To night our debating 
society held a meeting, and a very interesting 
one it was. The question was an exciting one, 
and most of the company have the right view 
of it, and, could our way be had, I think intoxi- 
cating liquors would be annihilated. Many 
sound and good arguments were advanced. 
The discussion occupied four hours, and we 
adjourned to meet again next Friday evening. 
Thus far I do not think I have been injured by 
the voyage, but improved, for now my mind is 
better able to resist temptation than when I 
started from home. For I have had it, and, 
thank God ! have been able to resist it entirely. 



California Life, 49 

We have good men as well as bad on board, 
and we can readily distinguish the one from the 
other ; and one has only himself to blame if 
influenced by the bad." 

^* Tuesday y yttly 10.— To-night we had a dis- 
cussion on slavery : whether the Northern States 
were morally and politically responsible for the 
existence of slavery in the South — an able dis- 
cussion for three hours and a half. Every ques- 
tion thus far has been decided on the moral and 
right side. We have some noble-minded men 
belonging to our society who are not afraid to 
speak what they think. I enjoy myself much 
in their society. It will be of much importance 
to myself whom I choose for my companions 
for the two years we shall spend in California, 
and it will be my endeavor to find out the best, 
for I consider it of great importance^ 

And well he might. " Evil communications 
corrupt good manners," The best of blood 
will be corrupted in time by breathing a mala- 
rious atmosphere, and the noblest natures suffer 
likewise from bad associates. It is far better 
to be alone than to hold communion with a 
vile heart, unless wq aim at once to remove 
the vileness. Antagonism to evil is the only 



50 A Life that Speaketh. 

condition of the good. This simple principle 
became the law of Mr. Wilson's life, and by it 
he conquered. 

^'Saturday, July 14. — I am much interested 
in Wilkes' works. His description of Rio 
Janeiro is good, and I got many valuable ideas 
respecting the Brazilian government. He gives 
an interesting account of Patagonia and Terra 
Del Fuego. His description of the inhabitants 
is very curious. I still continue my reading, 
besides a chapter daily in, my Bible, and a verse 
in the 'Daily Food.'" 

''Sunday, July 15. — . . . Had Divine serv- 
ice to-day, which I attended, as I have all the 
services that have been observed aboard the 
vessel. The text to-day was from Matt, ix, 12: 
* They that be whole need not a physician, but 

they that are sick.' Our pastor, Bro. H , 

preached, as usual, an earnest, touching dis- 
course, comparing the sick in body to the sick 
in soul. May his preaching be productive of 
much good ! I cannot make the Sabbath seem 
natural to me here, but I try to observe it in a 
proper manner, by reading proper books, etc." 

This Sabbath diary is a type of many others. 
A regularly ordained and efficient minister* 



California Life, 51 

still living and in active service, was officiating 
as chaplain to the company, and preached 
regularly every Sabbath. From the diary we 
learn that Mr. Wilson was a constant attendant 
on these services, and also the Bible-class and 
evening prayer-meeting. He speaks in the 
strongest language of the enjoyment he experi- 
enced and the profit he obtained from these 
religious exercises. Thus God was not forgot- 
ten, or his holy Sabbaths spent in idleness and 
pleasurable pastimes, but reverenced and kept 
as in his own New England home. , 

" Thursday^ July 19. — ... I have done 
one thing that I think will be of much import- 
ance ; I have changed my mess for the second 
time. The first mess I belonged to was the 

mess. I left that because there were 

many bad men, drunkards, etc., and I could 
not associate with them. I went from there to 

the mess, but found the same difficulty, 

for there were two or three there who neither 
feared God nor regarded man ; altogether too 
obscene in their conversation, and I could not 
endure it, and would not. I have joined the 
Nahant mess, from Lynn. They are moral 
men and good company, as good if not better 



52 A Life that Speaketh. 

than any other mess on board. / consider this 
the most important step I have taken!' 

Here we catch a glimpse of the morally 
heroic. This determination to classify himself 
with the best in character reveals his estimate 
of virtue, and the noble aspirations of his soul. 
How faithfully he adheres to the training of his 
youth. 

''Sunday^ August 5.— -Four months to-day 
we started from ' Long Wharf/ in Boston. We 
have passed through many changes of climate, 
and are now permitted to look upon another 
Sabbath morning. Certainly we have abundant 
reason to thank God for his great goodness in 
preserving our lives, and continuing to us our 
health. 

" May I ever feel thus ! On the Sabbath, 
more than any other day, do I think of ' home, 
sweet home,' and my New England associations 
and religious privileges. I am continually an- 
ticipating my return to those happy scenes. 
Our chaplain has been sick to-day, consequent- 
ly we have had no public services. I read, this 
morning, two sermons by Rev. L. Parker, of 
West Brookfield, on * A good name is better to 
be chosen than great riches.* They were plain, 



California Life, S3 

practical, simple, good discourses, and calculated 
to do much good, I think. Have also been 
reading ' Dick on Covetousness/ I do admire 
his writings. Also I read some in Wayland's 
'Moral Science.'" 

^' Saturday, August \\, — . . . Have been read- 
ing Henry Kirke White's Memoir. Have always 
been interested in his poems. They exhibit a 
mind of more than ordinary capacity, and some 
of them seem to be the truthful speakings of 
his soul. I admire them much. He certainly 
evinced extraordinary talent, and had he lived 
he would have held a high station among the 
poets of England. Have also been re reading 
the memoir of my eldest brother. When I com- 
pare my life with his, I am led to reflect on my 
sinfulness and neglect of duty. When I think 
that I have a father and two brothers in heaven, 
who are watching anxiously my course here, 
and whose pure and angelic spirits are pained 
to see any sin, I am led to try and act in such 
a manner as to give them no pangs. But how 
far short do I fall from doing this. May I be 
enabled to live the life of a Christian, that my 
last end may be like his ! " 

^^Wednesdayy August 15. — . . . I have been 



54 A Life that Speaketh. 

much interested in the ' Lights and Shadows 
of Scottish Life.' The stories are simple, and 
of a reHgious character. O, I do hke the Scot- 
tish character as exhibited here ! There is 
something so noble and religious, their love so 
natural and warm and pure. . . . Have been 
reading Miss Bremer's * President's Daughters,' 
which I like very much. I have read but very 
little fiction, but her writings I always admired — 
not the plot or story, but the truthfulness of 
the language and the elevation of the sentiments. 
She draws pictures of every-day life — model 
pictures that can be followed. Her stories are 
peculiarly home stories, and may do much good 
methinks." 

^^ Sunday, August 19. — ... I read my Bible 
until breakfast-time. I read the book of Ruth 
for my regular lesson, also in Psalms and Prov- 
erbs. ... I then got out some of my loving 
old letters, and went up into the *foretop' and 
read until supper-time. My heart was drawn 
again to dear old New England and my friends. 
After supper I read Tupper until dark. I am 
deeply in love with his prose writings." 

" Sunday y September 2. — Had a fine sermon 
from our chaplain from Jer. viii, 28. It was 



California Life, 55 

the most practical and earnest sermon he has 
preached on shipboard, and I hope productive 
of good. Had a Bible-class in the afternoon. 
How can our time be more profitably employed 
than in studying the great and important truths 
of the Bible. Would that every young man 
and woman felt the importance of these meet- 
ings more fully. In the evening we had a 
prayer-meeting, which was an interesting sea- 
son. It is to be regretted that professors of 
religion in the company do not set a better 
example." 

From these extracts we perceive from whence 
Mr. Wilson drew the inspiration of his useful 
life. His home-life gave him a mighty impulse 
toward the good, inspiring him with lofty pur- 
poses ; but when he saw that sinking down 
beneath the horizon with all its blessed experi- 
ences, as he launched away on his life-voyage — 
just as his own loved New England hills had 
disappeared in his California expedition — then 
it was that he spread the canvas of his soul to 
other influences no less favorable to a successful 
manhood. What were they } Good books. 

In the midst of circumstances of novelty and 
freedom, so naturally calculated to allure him 



56 A Life that Speaketh. 

to merriment and frivolity, we find him, not yet 
twenty years old, rejecting all solicitations to 
idleness and folly, and improving his mind in 
the study of literature. And mark the char- 
acter of his reading — poetry, history, moral 
essays, and sciences of the best quality, with 
the Bible as a daily text-book. Ah, now, it is 
all explained ! The young man ate food, not 
froth. His intellectual diet made spiritual bone 
and muscle and nerve. Let the young ponder 
this point well. There is no royal manhood 
attainable without good thoughts and principles. 
These are largely suggested to the mind by the 
books we read. 

It is a question whether the printing-press is 
doing society more of good or injury at the 
present day. Undoubtedly it is one of the 
grandest moral forces of the age. But we must 
not close our eyes to the fact, that Satan can 
use it as well as Christ. 

Good books are being multiplied by the mill- 
ion, good papers are rivaling the stars in the 
number of their issues, but side by side with 
these inspiring facts stand the appalling lists of 
fictitious and frothy publications that are com- 
ing up, like the slimy-footed frogs of Egypt, 



California Life, 57 

into every nook and corner of the land. These 
are highly seasoned with covert skepticism, 
spiced with improbable tales of love and advent- 
ure, and all on fire with the half-smothered 
flames of lust and worldliness. And this is 
becoming the mental food of the masses ! 
What alcohol is to the body, such literature is 
to the soul. It stimulates, but consumes. It 
insensibly weakens the moral nature. How 
difficult it is to save a man thoroughly satu- 
rated with strong drink, but it is no less diffi- 
cult to save a soul pervaded, by long indulgence, 
with the ideas and sentiments of such a perni- 
cious species of literature. The Churches are 
just now discussing the grave question, " What 
becomes of all the professed converts to Christ, 
and why are multitudes so unstable } " The 
answer will be found in the literature they 
read ; much of it makes society shallow, super- 
ficial, frivolous, loose-jointed, nerveless. And 
what did the Master of spiritual philosophy say 
of such persons } " And these are they like- 
wise which are sown on stony ground ; who, 
when they have heard the word, immediately 
receive it with gladness ; and have no root in 
themselves, and so endure but for a time." 



58 A Life that Speaketh. 

The pernicious nonsense they have read has 
made the heart as shallow as the dust on gran- 
ite rocks, and w^at hope can we possibly cher- 
ish of a spiritual harvest from such a soil ? 
" They have no depth of earth/' Such souls 
become so mentally and morally enfeebled as 
to be incapable of any grand spiritual activities. 
The quality of self-denial is wanting and the 
heroic element dead. Such a soul, morally 
speaking, is but a grown-up infant, and if kept 
at all in the possession of spiritual life, it must 
be by the tenderest nursing of some senti- 
mental minister, carrying it in his arms, and, 
ever and anon, dosing it with theological milk, 
sweetened and made palatable with rhetorical 
tidbits, until a pitying angel relieves him of his 
load, and takes the shriveled thing up higher. 

It is refreshing, in the midst of such facts, to 
give to the world the example of a young man, 
exposed to every temptation to frivolity, turn- 
ing to the highest order of reading because he 
loved it, and because, aspiring to be a man of 
usefulness, he believed this was the true method 
of attaining his sanctified ambition. May the 
rising generation emulate his example, and thus 
obey Paul's wise injunction to Timothy, to 



I 



California Life. 59 

"give attendance to reading!*' The aim of a 
biographer should be to show what a man was, 
and not to produce an imaginary character. 
We judge the best way to accompHsh this is to 
let the man speak for himself. The real life 
and purpose of any one is best revealed in his 
familiar talks with friends, when he never 
dreamed of having his unguarded utterances 
exposed to public examination. Fortunately 
we have many of the letters of Mr. Wilson 
preserved, and T gladly give some specimens to 
the reader as revelations of his inner life. 

'■^Monday, August 13, 1849. 

'* Dearest Mother : You may be surprised 
at the date of this letter, but I begin thus early 
that I may have ample time to inform you of 
the state of my feelings. I never knew, my 
dear mother, how much I was attached to 
home, to you, and to my sisters ; for, as you 
may recollect, I never was away from you more 
than two weeks at a time. But now to be gone 
four months is hard, very hard. Both in dreams 
at night and musings by day do I dwell on thee, 
my mother ; absence but strengthens my love. 
Just now my bedfellow was informing me that 



6o A Life that Spe.^kzth. 

last night I ra'kei much of home in my sleep, 
a::d I seerrei : erjoyed to be with you again. 
M :.. : :her. God grant that it may one day be 
a rei'i: y X: :v::.::er T thiught of you in my 
creiTs ::■: :::; :: i:;i as n:uch on home, and 
after se: ::e I :::k \:z the i::e:::oir of my dear 
elder brother and re-read it It impressed my 
mind very solemnly ; it led me to call all the 
events of my life for the last ten years over in 
my mind. How humbled was I to see the hu- 
mility and devotedness of those three dear 
ones who have gone beiore. and are now glori- 
fied spirits, and to compare their : es with my 
own. So unworthy do I appear to myself that 
it is a wonder to me v.hy G:d perrrits me to 
live. Such recollecticn? ser e t: strengthen 
and confirm those m:rai ami rei:^i:us habits 
which I now daily see more and more necessity 
of forming. I i: e to talk and think of those 
dearfiiends in 'r.zy:zr,. Perhaps I am indebted 
to Cousin Myra :or turning my attention to 
these things. But I r.r.d such thoughts truly 
beneficial, and I fua titose vho can sympathize 
with me who have lost near and dear friends. 
Think not, dearest mother, that I am made un- 
happy by these thoughts, for it is far otherwise. 



California Life, 6 1 

Although I love to keep green the memory of 
my friends and childhood's home, yet these 
recollections do not for a moment deter me 
from carrying out the work I have now begun, 
for in connection with that I have coupled your 
happiness and that of my dear sisters. I am 
now pretty well convinced that with judi- 
cious management I may, in a short time, 
secure a comfortable competency, and then, 
dear mother, if money in any way conduces to 
happiness it is yours ; and who will attempt to 
deny that a person with means cannot do more 
good in the world than one without ? You well 
know already my purpose in coming on this 
expedition ; but, methinks, I hear you say, * My 
dear boy will be disappointed, he will not real- 
ize his expectations/ Those expectations are 
already beginning to be realized ; and fear not, 
O my dear anxious mother, I shall be disap- 
pointed if I gain no pecuniary advantage, for I 
have a good strong constitution, and two active, 
willing hands that will always find something 
to do. By all honest ways I shall endeavor to 
get gold. If these fail me then I am satisfied, 
and I shall immediately go to work at my trade, 
or some other honorable, honest employment. 



62 A Life that Speaketh. 

*' I said my expectations have already begun 
to be realized. Do you not recollect the reason, 
and the only one you would accept, for my leav- 
ing Lowell to start on this expedition ? It was 
that it would benefit my health, was it not, my 
dear mother ? I wish you could see me now. 
I weighed in Valparaiso twenty pounds more 
than I did when I started from Boston. I feel 
very well every way — have had only one slight 
cold, and that I got over in a few days. I take 
two or three hours* exercise every day, and 
being so much in the open air, my lungs grow 
stronger ; and if your only boy is no richer 
when he returns, he will have a stronger con- 
stitution and a better cultivated mind, I hope. 
. . . Perhaps some of those gentlemen who 
fitted me out may think, that if Lam so dis- 
posed I may try and avoid my agreement. But 
I consider it a matter of Jionor 07i which^ perhaps, 
my future reputation depends^ or if my reputation 
does not, my peace of mind does, I have written 
on the back of the copy of agreement with them, 
w^hich I have, these words: 'As the ''Bay State 
and California Mining and Trading Company" 
is now no more in existence, this agreement 
may seem to be null and void. But, notwith- 



I 



California Life. 63 

standing the company has dissolved, I consider 
myself bound by ties of honor to fulfill my 
agreement, just the same as if the company 
still existed, and shall endeavor so to do if my 
life is spared, and in case of my decease it is 
my earnest wish that they shall have justice 
done them/ Is that not as it should be, my 
dear mother ? I consider it a matter of honor, 
and must act so as to have a conscience void 
of offense. ... I do not intend in my letters 
to give much account of my voyage, for I want 
to pour my whole soul out to you, and I would 
that you could look into my heart, and read my 
inmost soul. How much I regret that I have 
not paid more attention to correspondence, for 
I am fearful that I shall be hardly able to write 
readable letters ; but I know that my friends 
will excuse style if I only write. I feel much 
for my dear sisters, Eh'za, Fannie, Mary, and 
Ella, and it is my intention to write to all 
of them. I hope Ella has not forgotten her 
brother George, who thinks so very often of her 
happiness. May she ever be as free from sin 
as I think she was when I left ! Dear mother, 
as much as it is in your power let my sisters 
continue to improve their minds by study, and 



64 A Life that Speaketh. 

by letter-writing. I am satisfied it will here- 
after be of great benefit to them. Have them 
write to their friends and relatives ; it will be 
one of the best ways of improving their gram- 
mar and style in writing, and a familiarity and 
practice of putting their thoughts on paper will 
expand their minds. Please excuse me for 
attempting to give any advice, and do not con- 
sider me presumptuous, for I have this subject 
near at heart, and am convinced that their 
future happiness depends much, very much, 
upon the cultivation of their minds. So soon 
as I realize any pecuniary advantages it will 
be a great source of happiness to me to furnish 
means to have Fannie, Mary, and Ella pursue 
their education, if they and you wish it. I 
would say, if Fannie or Mary have not formed 
any engagements, if they knew how very much 
depends for future happiness on this, they 
would be extremely careful. You have not, 
perhaps, so much knowledge of tbe hearts of the 
young men of the present age as I have, or the 
deceitfulness of human nature. There are but 
very few young men that I am acquainted with 
with whom I would dare to trust the happiness 
of my dear sisters. I am well aware their 



California Life, 65 

instructions have been many, and none better 
than from the Hps of a mother ; yet the world 
is full of temptations in thousands of shapes. 
Mother, I know more of the deceitfulness of 
man than I did when I first started. There 
are men here who by their conversation and 
manner you would think pure and sinless, who 
are inwardly polluted and rotten to the core. 
I do not like to judge, but I am forced to be- 
lieve what I would to God were untrue. All 
the restraints of society seem to be away from 
them, and they act as if they cared not for their 
reputation or for God ! . . . God has been very 
merciful unto us. Now farewell, dear mother." 

A letter to his sister Fannie, written just 
before reaching San Francisco, reveals Mr. 
Wilson's views of true womanhood. We give 
a copious extract : — 

"... You know I am not a sermonizer, yet 
I have my own ideas of what constitutes beauty 
in a female. Dear sister, strive to adorn your- 
self with a beauty of mind ; strive to cultivate 
those ennobling qualities you have ever pos- 
sessed. Still continue to be amiable in dis- 
position, and you will be loved by all your 



66 A Life that Speaketh. 

acquaintances. Do not throw away too much 
time in adorning your person, but cultivate 
your mind, and you will have a solace in every 
time of affliction. Strive to get information 
from books as much as possible, they will give 
you other people's ideas and acquaint you with 
other nations ; but avoid almost all work^ of 
fiction, they only enervate the mind and de- 
stroy a taste for solid reading. Above all books 
stands prominently the Holy Bible. I have 
derived much comfort in reading ' Tupper's 
Proverbial Philosophy.* It has been a great 
companion to me, and I advise you to read it." 

"Pacific Ocean, August i6. 
" My Dear Cousin Myra : . . . For several 
years before I came to Brooklyn I had desired 
to make my life one of usefulness. My aim 
was to do good, but my mind was weak, very 
weak ; for since I had learned to love study, my 
duty to my father had forbidden me to indulge 
in it. I felt myself unable from my excessive 
labor to improve my mind. And believe me, 
my dear cousin, I felt my heart grow colder to- 
ward my fellow-men, although I endeavored to 
feel and sympathize with the joys and woes of 



California Life. 67 

others. But I did keep alive a little flame of 
love to God, nature, and men, in my bosom. 
At length my father was taken sick, and with 
the increased care and excessive labor I be- 
came sick also. I had many friends around 
me who comforted me, yet I had no one to 
whom I could lay bare my inmost soul but God. 
I had the impression that my father was not 
long to remain with us, and I thought of 
mother — that mother I loved with my whole 
soul. I prayed God to spare my life yet a little 
while, to cheer and comfort her, that her last 
days might be her best. God heard my prayer. 
I became better, and it was recommended to 

me to journey, and dear Aunt M put it into 

my head to visit your father's family. I did so, 
and, as you know, my first impressions were not 
favorable toward my educated cousins. I felt 
my own inferiority, and thought you would 
cause me to feel it more. * I came, I saw, I 
was conquered' by your gentleness. Those 
feelings that were nearly dormant in my breast 
were aroused by your conversation. I learned to 
love holy things more ; my mind was strength- 
ened ; and I returned home better able to com- 
bat with the world, better able to resist tempta- 



68 A Life that Speaketh. 

tion, and do my duty to those I loved. Since 
that time your regularly received loving letters 
have kept the flame burning more brightly. . . . 
I cannot say much of my mind. It needs dis- 
cipline, much hard study, before I shall accom- 
plish any good. The voyage has been beneficial 
to it. I read the Bible with much pleasure : I am 
more conversant with Tupper and Wayland's 
' Moral Truths ' strengthen me : Dick gives me 
nobler sentiments, and a love for truth and ho- 
liness : Combe's * Constitution of Man ' enables 
me to have a better view of myself. I have 
been reading Frederika Bremer's ' President's 
Daughters.' You first taught me to love her 
writings by your beautiful readings of ' Brothers 
and Sisters.' ... I have been in Sunday-school 
since I was four years old, and I intend to be 
always connected with it." . . . 

On Saturday, September 22, 1849, ^he ship 
*' Areatus " anchored in the harbor of San Fran- 
cisco. The original Company had already bro- 
ken up into fragments. Mr. Wilson attached 
himself to that portion that he considered mor- 
ally the best, consisting of fourteen men, calling 
themselves the " Nahant Company," and at the 



California Life. 69 

earliest period possible they pushed on to the 
mines. October 29 he pronounces a memora- 
ble day. " Eight of us have dug about twenty 
dollars of gold, pure virgin gold!' We return 
again to the Diary for such expressions as 
show us the man in the rough life of a gold 
digger. 

" Sunday^ November 4. . . . We intend to 
keep the Sabbath strictly, having religious serv- 
ices, reading the Scriptures, and prayer. We 
shall do no unnecessary work, and endeavor to 
live as we did in New England. . . . My cor- 
respondence with my Cousin M has been 

of much benefit to me. Her piety, her loving 
kindness toward me, have subdued very much 
of the roughness of my nature, and made me 
more considerate of others' feelings. ... I 
have been led to think what a blessing to have 
had such a mother as I have had ; who for 
years has set me such a daily example of Chris- 
tianity : her gentleness, her meekness, her for- 
bearance, all come before me. I thank thee, O 
God, for such a mother ; and I pray that I may 
never dishonor her ; and may I be enabled to 
make her last days her best." 

^'Monday, November 26. ... In reading 



70 A Life that Speaketh. 

' Franklin's Life/ and Alcott's * Hints to Young 
Men on a High Aim/ I have been led to think 
of my own misspent life — of my want of aim, of 
system, of the little I accomplish. I am led to 
resolve that I will spend as much time as possible 
in readings studying, and writing. I will make 
the hour of ten my hour of retiring, and, as 
the rest retire early, this will be the best hour 
for me to write. I hope to get %ome valuable 
information this winter in these California 
woods : and if I get home safely with any capi- 
tal I intend to apply myself assiduously to 
study, for this state of things will not do, I must 
not grow up in ignorancer 

" Tuesday, November 27. ... I thank God 
that my parents always impressed upon me my 
duty to my fellow-men, especially to be benevo- 
lent. I think I never am happier than when 
giving. How many a basket load of provisions 
my mother has sent by me to her poorer 
neighbors ! " 

''Sunday, January 10, 1850. ... I have got 
five hundred dollars to pay the gentlemen who 
fitted me out, and fifty dollars besides, and I 
am happy to spend my first earnings in so good a 
cause as to help get an unfortunate man home." 



California Life. 71 

The person spoken of was an acquaintance 
of Mr. Wilson's who had been taken ill on his 
arrival in California, and had spent all his 
money, and was sick, friendless, and penniless. 
The first earnings of the young gold digger 
were freely given up to help the sick man home. 

The Company, not realizing all they expected 
in their first diggings, removed to another place. 
A Sabbath was spent in Coloma. Here Mr. 
Wilson's soul was stirred within him, as deeply 
as Paul's at Athens, when he saw the wicked- 
ness of the place. 

^'February 18. — . . . There is much liquor 
sold and much drunkenness here. I do most 
heartily despise men who will pursue this most 
dishonest mode of procuring a livelihood. I 
had rather die than sell liquor. It will be my 
endeavor so to live as to meet my friends with 
an unsullied conscience." 

*^ Sunday y Febrimry 24. — The only sign of 
devotion I saw to-day was an aged negro 
reading the Scriptures aloud to three other 
colored men. O how much wickedness there 
is in this place ! My heart is pained within 
me to see the recklessness of men." 

About the first of February the news of his 



'J2 A Life that Speaketh. 

mother's death reached him. The blow fell 
heavily on his sensitive, loving heart. His love 
for her is expressed in terms of intense endear- 
ment, and his sorrow at her loss was of a deep, 
manly nature. His letters to his sisters reveal 
great solicitude for their welfare, and, like a 
loyal brother, he at once offered himself as 
their earthly protector. These letters abound 
in the sagest counsels, in expressions of hope 
that he may have ability to aid them in securing 
a better education, and in profound thanks- 
givings to God for comforting his heart under 
his great trial with his abounding grace. They 
are filled with attestations of the worth of his 
departed mother, of her holy influence over her 
family, especially himself, and the inexpressible 
feeling of loss that grows upon him as the 
weary months drag on. Did space permit 
these letters should be inserted ; but as my pur- 
pose is not to multiply words, but to open the 
heart of a man, and let the public read his 
purposes and aspirations, I pass on to other 
scenes in his career. One incident in his Cali- 
fornia experience, related by a bosom friend, 
is too touching to be omitted. One day Mr. 
Wilson was with a party of acquaintances in a 



California Life. 73 

public house. A wild, shaggy backwoodsman, 
loaded with deadly weapons, and as lawless in 
the use of them as a Kansas squatter of bloody 
memories, came in and invited the party to 
drink, supplementing his invitation with the 
dastardly threat, that if any refused he would 
shoot him on the spot. All but one acceded 
at once, and ranged themselves at the bar. 
That one was Mr. Wilson. He stood by the 
door calm and unmoved. The outlaw looked 
upon him much as Goliath surveyed the 
stripling David, and approaching him with 
horrid oaths, and a revolver pointed at his 
brain, bid him take his place and drink or he 
would make good his threat. Mr. Wilson re- 
quested him to hear his reasons for doing as 
he did. His request was granted. He told 
him of his mother, of the parting scene, of the 
pledge he had given her never, never to drink 
intoxicating drinks. "And now,'' said he, 
"would you have me break my pledge V The 
man replaced his pistol, commended him for 
his fidelity to his mother's trust, and left him 
unharmed, in his untainted nobility. That 
heroism of soul runs like a golden thread 
though his whole life. 



74 A Life that Speaketh. 

In September he turned his footsteps home- 
ward. He had gained his great purpose, health. 
He was physically vigorous and strong, and 
morally as unspotted as when he left New 
England. His mind had been improved by 
extensive reading and observation, and his 
whole manhood broadened. Without much 
gold to remunerate him for his many months 
of wearying labor, he left California about 
October ist, 1850, for "home, sweet home." 
The passage gives us no diary. The reason is 

given by Rev. Mr. H , of the New England 

Conference. He was a passenger on the same 
ship and helplessly sick, and Mr. Wilson de- 
voted^ his time to his care with the fidelity of a 
brother. His was a hfe of ministry. " He 
went about doing good/' 



The Preparation Period, 75 



CHAPTER IV. 

THE PREPARATION PERIOD. 

MR. WILSON returned to Lowell in the 
early days of 1851, adjusted his business 
with those who had so kindly befriended him, 
cheered his sisters in their orphanage, visited 
his mother's grave, and then turned his face to 
the future. He was prepared for any toil or 
personal sacrifice required to secure an honor- 
able livelihood. He might have returned to 
his old post in the machine shop, but the con- 
viction that his health would not endure such 
confinement led him to seek some other em- 
ployment. Through the kindness of relatives 
in Nashua, New Hampshire, a clerkship in a 
grocery store was offered him. He accepted 
the position, and entered at once upon his new 
duties. These relatives to whom he was thus 
indebted were of the Unitarian persuasion, 
and it might have seemed both generous and 
politic for him to join them in their Church as- 
sociations. But it was not like him to forget 



76 A Life that Speaketh. 

the faith of his parents, or act in such matters 
from any personal motives. His first step was to 
inquire for a Methodist Episcopal Church, and 
on being informed that there were two in the 
city he asked for the weaker one, and to it he 
went at once and offered himself as a proba- 
tioner. How sharp the contrast between his 
course and that of many ! He sought the 
weaker society, where he was most needed. 
Many avoid such Churches, and seek the strong, 
the popular, the influential, where they may 
find ease and social satisfactions. He imme- 
diately announced his presence, and united with 
the toiling band ; while very many hide away in 
the home cloisters, and grumble at the coldness 
of Christians and the indifference of ministers. 
The first Sabbath he attended church, the pas- 
tor, Rev. Mr. M'L , unexpectedly announced 

that he would address the Sabbath-school the 
next Sunday. Hesitatingly, he came forward 
at that time and made his maiden speech. He 
narrated some of the incidents of his California 
life, and did it so graphically and modestly that 
the school, then wanting an assistant superin- 
tendent, charmed with his simple and earnest 
spirit, at the suggestion of the pastor elected 



The Preparation Period, 77 

him to the vacant office. A young lady, a 
teacher in the public schools, not relishing the 
prospect of a speech from one so young, antici- 
pating only a boyish harangue, passed out as 
he rose to make his address, and went home. 
She afterward repented of her conduct when 
she had seen more of the new official.- With 
this young lady boarded a friend, also a teacher 
in the city schools. She frequently extolled 
their new superintendent in the hearing of her 
companion, who was a Baptist, and on one occa- 
sion invited her to attend a Church sociable, where 
it was supposed Mr. Wilson would be present. 
The invitation was accepted, and at that inter- 
view Mr. Wilson met, for the first time, the 
partner of his life and labors. One circum- 
stance occurred then that made a deep impres- 
sion on her mind. The pastor was away, and 
he was requested to lead in prayer. He knelt 
all alone in the crowded room. This act struck 
her as noble and heroic, indicative of a true 
manhood. Soon after he took board in the 
same family, and thus providentially thrown 
together, friendship ripened into intimacy, and 
intimacy into a heart union that was productive 
of the ripest joy to both. 



78 A Life that Speaketh. 

Mr. Wilson entered upon his Sabbath-school 
work with the greatest enthusiasm. The super- 
intendent was absent, and the whole responsi- 
bility rested upon his shoulders. Writing to 
his Cousin Myra, he says : " I have constantly 
felt my unworthiness and incapacity for this 
station, yet, as I was earnestly requested to take 
it, I endeavor to fulfill the duties to the best of 
my ability. When I commenced we had ninety- 
five scholars ; last Sabbath we had upward of 
one hundred and twenty. . . . While absent one 
Sunday I was made life-member of the Mission- 
ary Society by the payment of twenty dollars by 
the school. I felt perfectly confused when told 
of this, so unexpected and so undeserved, and 
my remarks the next Sabbath in acknowledg- 
ment were disconnected enough, I assure you.'* 

In another letter he says: ''Our school has 
nearly doubled in three months, and out of a 
congregation of two hundred persons, one hun- 
dred and eighty belong to the Sabbath-school." 
So much for a live superintendent. 

In the fall a larger salary was offered him in 
a dry goods store. He accepted the place, and 

thus writes to Myra: "Mr. B gave me an 

offer to work for him, which seemed so advan- 



• 



The Preparation Period, 79 

tageous that I concluded to accept. The pros- 
pect is I can make more money at this than 
any thing else, and money is one of my godsy 
you know. I love it so well that I have given 
away more than sixty dollars since coming to 
Nashua. ... I do admire the colporteurs who 
live to do good in that self-sacrificing, holy way 
by going about from house to house with good 
books and cheering words of love and consola- 
tion. If I really felt it my duty I would do it 
now, and trust in God for my support." 

In a later letter he remarks : " I find there is 
more real enjoyment in one act that has made 
a fellow-being happy than in many hours of 
amusement or trifling conversation." 

In the mean time the confinement in the store 
proved unfavorable to Mr. Wilson's health. A 
change was imperatively demanded. His uncle, 
then postmaster in the new city of Lawrence, 
offered him a position as letter carrier, and, 
hoping such an out-door life might benefit his 
declining health, he accepted, and removed 
thither January i, 1852. Many were his re- 
grets at leaving his Sabbath-school work in 
Nashua, but a still wider field of usefulness was 
opened for him by the hand of God. 



8o A Life that Speaketh. 

And now we approach the scene of twenty 
years of faithful toil for the Master. Thirty 
years ago the coy and graceful Merrimack, 
having turned the spindles of Lowell, and 
wound its devious way among the low hills that 
lay to the eastward, passed over a rocky rapid, 
flanked on either side by barren sandbanks and 
bushy marshes. Here came the calculating 
capitalist, and, scanning the natural fall, pro- 
nounced it a favorable spot for a manufacturing 
city. A company bought the adjacent land, 
secured the water-power, constructed a dam 
of granite across the river over forty feet in 
height, and a canal one mile in length of im- 
mense capacity, and invited capital to come in 
and build industrial establishments. The result 
is marvelous. A city has sprung up over these 
places of desolation containing thirty-five thou- 
sand inhabitants, with all the institutions and 
benevolent appliances of a great metropolis, 
with large manufacturing interests and enter- 
prising corporations, whose fabrics may be found 
in every part of the Union. In the youthful 
days of Lawrence Mr. Wilson came to find a 
home. He grew with her growth, has left 
his footprints upon her sands, and the memory 



I 



The Preparation Period, 8i 

of his noble life deeply fixed in her generous 
heart. 

On his way to his new home he called at 
Lowell, and visited the graves of his family. 
Thus he writes to his cousin : — 

*' Lawrence, Jan, 13, 1852. 

" My Dear Cousin Myra : . . . I visited 
the graves of my parents and brothers while in 
Lowell, and as I knelt in the deep snow upon 
my mother's grave I prayed that her pure 
spirit might be permitted to watch over and 
guide her boy, and I do believe my prayers 
will be answered. I felt peaceful and happy, 
and whatever may be my lot, I hope to be a 
Christian in the truest sense of the word." 

How beautiful the beginning of his Lawrence 
life ! Can any thing be more touching than the 
sight of the orphan boy kneeling upon his 
mothers grave, and pleading for the bene- 
dictions of her spirit as he goes forth, like the 
brave patriarch, into a land whither the Lord is 
leading him. Arrived in Lawrence, he com- 
menced at once his new labors. He can best 

tell us what they were : — 
6 



1 



82 A Life that Speaketh. 



* Lawrenxe, Jan. 23, 1852. 

'' My Dear Cousin Myra : . . . I must give 
you some account of my business. It agrees 
with my health excellently. I have already 
begun to gain flesh and to feel well again. I 
commenced last Monday in that storm. I 
came very near being frozen twice, yet I stood 
it pretty well. Tuesday was a little better, but 
very cold. I have now learned where to find 
nearly every house, garret, cellar, and alley in 
town. But it is much harder for me to learn 
the names. I carry letters to fifteen hundred 
people, and am obliged to look over all the 
letters that come into the office, and pick out 
those that I deliver. It will require some time 
to learn this. 

" There are many pleasant things about the 
business, and some unpleasant ; but I get far 
more blessings than curses. I have an admi- 
rable opportunity to pursue a favorite study of 
mine — human nature, I am obliged to be in the 
office to select my letters when the mails come 
in. I generally go out at half past nine to 
deliver them, and get through at one, except a 
part of my route which Hes on the south side 
of the river. I go over there on the mail- 



The Preparation Period, 83 

coach, so that I have two or three miles' ride 
every day, which I enjoy exceedingly. I spend 
my evenings in the office, attending the deliv- 
ery until half past eight, when we close up. 
From that time until ten I write and read. 
Tuesday evenings I go to class-meetings. I 
have written you about these meetings. I now 
feel the need of them very much. My mind is 
kept in such a continual state of excitement 
I need to go at least one evening in the week 
to meet with the children of God, and speak 
together of our joys and sorrows, and cheer and 
comfort and pray for each other. O I do 
think class-meeting, as held among the Meth- 
odists, are the most useful social meetings we 
have among Christians ! I have never been so 
happy, so cheerful, and never have felt more 
like praising God than now. And frequently 
when alone in my daily route I find myself 
praising him aloud. You speak of the balls, 

parties, etc., of our M friends. I think 

there is more real enjoyment in relieving the 
necessities of the needy, more real enjoyment 
in giving a poor boy a pair of shoes, than in a 
whole winter's series of such festivities." 

Very soon after going to Lawrence he united 



84 A Life that Speaketh. 

by letter with the Haverhill-street Methodist 
Episcopal Church. He did not join as a silent 
partner. The first Sabbath evening in his new 
religious home he rose in his place, confessed 
his faith in Jesus, and his desire to sit as a 
disciple at his Master s feet. His modesty and 
manliness won him friends at once, and gained 
him a spiritual home. Mr. Wilson never asked 
for office or recognition. His native sense of 
propriety taught him never to seek promotion. 
He wisely took the humblest seat among his 
fellow-Christians, did his duty quietly and 
modestly in the place that was opened to him, 
and went up higher only as invited by provi- 
dential indications. He sought no responsi- 
bilities, but they speedily sought him. It would 
be better for God's cause if all Christians had 
the same rule of action. The double witness 
of the Spirit is as applicable to official relations 
in the Church, as to those of the individ- 
ual soul with God. God calls men to special 
duties indirectly through men, as well as 
directly through one's own convictions. So 
thought Mr. Wilson, and acting thus he made 
no mistakes. 

Immediately after joining the Church he was 



The Preparation Period, 85 

called to teach a class in the Sabbath-school. 
Commencing with one scholar, in a short time 
he had four pews filled. This is not strange. 
Bees fly for flowers where the honey is to be 
found, and it is not likely that hungry souls 
will not speedily discover where the sweetness 
of the Gospel is dispensed. Mr. Wilson fed 
his class with the bread of life, and within one 
year every member of it had found the Saviour. 
We give some of the feelings of his heart as he 
taught about Jesus. 

^' March 9, 1852. 

" My Dear Cousin Myra : ... On Sunday 
my mind was so agitated, and so solemnly im- 
pressed with my responsibilities as a Sabbath- 
school teacher, that I had almost made up my 
mind to give up my class. As I thought the 
matter over it occurred to me that it would be 
cowardly to shrink from a known duty, and I 
resolved, with the help of my heavenly Father, 
to go on, and do my duty as I saw it. I have 
gathered around me in these six weeks a Bible- 
class of twenty-three ladies, old and young, and 
I do feel real sad to go into the school and 
have so large a class, when other teachers near 
me, who are far better Bible scholars, have 



86 A Life that Speaketh. 

only four or five pupils. This is all owing to 
personal effort of the class and myself On 
Sunday I told my class of my trials, and en- 
deavored to give them a faithful warning." 

In addition to this class Mr. Wilson was soon 
appointed by the pastor a leader, and in this 
department he was equally successful. These 
new responsibilities quickened his spiritual life 
and led him to richer experiences. 

''May i8, 1852. 

" My Dear Cousin Myra : . . . Before I 
close I must say one word of my Christian 
experience : I think I never was so peaceful 
and happy in my mind as now. I have been 
trying to examine my heart closely, to bring 

* my soul and I ' together. I have thought 
much of my dear friends who have gone 

* Home,' and have earnestly prayed that my 
life might be so pure, that when I am called 
I can join them and praise God forever. I 
pray more than I ever did before." 

But this was not all of his Christian labors. 
There were at that time a number of young 



The Preparation Period, 87 

men in the Church, some of whom were moder- 
ately active, others dull and spiritually lifeless. 
Mr. Wilson drew them to himself, infused into 
them a measure of his own religious enthu- 
siasm, and brought them one by one to life and 
duty. Some of these young men are now liv- 
ing, some have gone forth as chosen vessels 
of salvation, and with tears of gratitude they 
tell us of him who inspired them afresh with 
the love of Jesus. These brotherly associations 
were always dear to him, and he never spoke 
of these friends and their usefulness without a 
feeling of manly pride. During this first year 
in Lawrence he became deeply interested in a 
life of the fullest consecration. 

** July 20, 1852. 
" My Dear Cousin Myra : . . . You say 
since you last wrote 'your desires for goodness 
have been strengthened, and your spirit has 
received a new impetus in its strivings for a 
holier and better life.' O, my cousin, would 
that I could, as you desire, see you, that we 
might speak of these things ! My own spirit, 
too, has received a new impetus. I think I 
have seen more clearly my obligation to God, 



88 A Life that Speaketh. 

and have realized more fully his great goodness 
to me in the abundance of his mercies be- 
stowed upon me. My heart has been striving 
for a purer, holier life. Would our heavenly 
Father have bidden us do any thing that could 
not be performed, and are we to understand 
the passage * Without holiness no man shall 
see the Lord ' as a mere empty sound ? The 
human mind can hardly compass the mighty 
thought — entire purity, holiness of heart. I 
dare not say it is not attainable ; indeed, I may 
say I have seen it exemplified in the holy life 
of others. I have a good brother here, a young 
man of my own age, who is preparing for the 
ministry, who has been feeling deeply on this 
subject, and for a month past we have held 
weekly meetings to talk over this matter and 
pray for ourselves. These meetings have re- 
sulted in great good to us. Thoughts like these 
are constantly with me : Here am I, professing 
to be a follower of Jesus, going around among 
the people every day, speaking to hundreds : 
do I carry the impress of my Divine Master 
with me always ; do I act worthy of the name 
of Christian, and ' my soul and I ' dare not 
always meet ? " 



The Preparation Period, 89 

This letter gives Mr. Wilson's views and 
soul-hungerings in his early life. He read and 
reflected much at that time upon the subject 
of personal holiness, and being convinced of 
the reasonableness of the doctrine, he drew 
near the cross, and consecrated soul, body, and 
spirit to God, laying all that pertained to him 
upon the altar of sacrifice, and believing them 
accepted left them there, and in the fullness 
of the Spirit went out to his Hfe-work, and 
prosecuted it to the day of his death. 

We are not aware that he ever made a public 
profession of holiness, as technically demanded 
by some of its enthusiastic advocates. His 
position on that special point was simply this : 
I will, by the power of the Holy Ghost, be pure 
in heart, full of love to God and men, and show 
them, by my Christ-like conduct and spirit, just 
how far I have progressed in grace. He felt 
assured that what his daily life would not tell 
of soul-purity it was useless to attempt to circu- 
late through the depreciated currency of speech. 
And yet he was a swift advocate of Christian 
testimony. He laid great stress on a public 
espousal of Christ. He was by no means a 
dumb disciple. Every-where, in public and pri- 



90 A Life that Speaketh. 

vate, his conversation was deeply spiritual. He 
especially loved class-meetings, was a devoted 
leader for years, and in that capacity made it 
his constant aim to perfect holiness of heart 
and life in his members. His personal testi- 
mony was freely given, was always sweet, rest- 
ful, soul-inspiring ; he lived a consecrated life 
every moment, holding nothing back from God, 
and always spoke of a present and complete 
Saviour in the most confident manner ; and yet 
the fact remains that he never satisfied some 
who wanted a more formal acknowledgment 
of personal holiness. He was frequently taken 
to task for his silence. He was often urged to 
seek and profess the blessing technically, and 
sometimes was flayed, of course in a brotherly 
way, for not taking a public stand as a holy 
man. These are the facts ; the reader may 
draw his own conclusions. 

In the early part of 1853 a Sabbath-school 
was organized in the eastern section of the city, 
and Mr. Wilson elected its superintendent. A 
few weeks after the school was expanded into 
a regular Church organization, and assumed 
the name of the Garden-street Methodist Epis- 
copal Church. Mr. Wilson was one of the 



The Preparation Period, 91 

leaders in the enterprise, uniting with it, and 
taking on himself its heaviest burdens. He 
stands on its records as the first trustee elected : 
was president of the board at the time of his 
death : was its Sabbath-school superintendent 
until i860, when his mission duties made resig- 
nation imperative : was for years steward, class- 
leader, and general financial agent, and the 
wheel-horse of almost every important commit- 
tee. The history of Garden-street Church is 
so interwoven with his life, that if his labors 
were taken out of the record the fragments 
that remain would look like the remnants of an 
explosion. Two facts in its history are too 
precious to be lost. In its earliest days the 
congregation worshiped in a hall. The place 
was not convenient, and it was determined to 
furnish it for the purpose. The Society was 
small and poor. Mr. Wilson had just pur- 
chased a small house for his bride, had fur- 
nished his parlor, and was commencing house- 
keeping. When, however, he saw their place 
of worship untenable for want of a little money, 
he and his young wife sent their new parlor 
furniture to the auction rooms, and with the 
proceeds helped to fit up the hall for God's 



92 A Life that Speaketh. 

glory. Years after, when the panic of 1857 
produced business stagnation and distress, the 
new church edifice was in danger of being sold 
for debt. Times were hard, and there were no 
persons of wealth in the Society on whom they 
could depend in such a crisis. Some, almost 
discouraged, were ready to abandon the enter- 
prise, having, as they supposed, done the best 
they could. But Mr. Wilson said, '' No, it shall 
not be ! I will sell my house first." And in- 
spired with his spirit, they pushed on through 
every trial. He needs no better monument in 
Lawrence than the Garden-street Church. 

April 7, 1853, one year after his removal to 
Lawrence, he was married to Miss Emily O. 
Fisk, of Nashua, N. H. Henceforth he had a 
companion who shared all his joys, and assisted 
in bearing all his burdens of benevolence. In 
another place this home-life of his shall claim 
special attention. 

And now we approach a little secret history. 
Mr. Wilson had served the city as penny-post 
seven years, was universally respected, and had 
proved faithful in all his duties. 

In February, 1859, ^^ '^^^ dismissed by the 
postmaster, '^and thereby hangs a tale." In 



The Preparation Period. 93 

the issue of the '' Lawrence American," Feb- 
ruary 29, appears this editorial item : " Last 

week Postmaster W — removed from his 

employ George P. Wilson, who has held the 
place of penny-post under three different ad- 
ministrations, who is personally and officially 
esteemed and universally popular, whose cus- 
tomers are unanimously in favor of his continu- 
ance, whose faithfulness and honesty are above 
reproach, and against whom not one syllable 
could be urged but his opinions in politics. 
Mr. Wilson, like an honest man, refused to bow 
the knee to Baal, refused to truckle to the 
wishes of political demagogues, refused to use 
his position to serve the personal and political 
schemes of the postmaster at the expense of 
the public, refused to become a tool and puppet, 
and he is therefore supplanted by one less con- 
scientious and more pliant ; he is succeeded by 
an Irish Catholic democrat of the doubly- 
twisted bunker stripe." 

Making all due allowance for partisan inten- 
sity, the statements of this article are in the 
main correct. In the next issue of the paper 
Mr. Wilson, with his characteristic love of fair 
play, says that the postmaster never sought to 



94 A Life that Speaketh. 

control his vote, or demand his political serv- 
ices, but he does not deny that he was removed 
solely for political reasons. This fact is plainly 
manifest. Now what an illustration is this of 
the corrupting power of politics ! What a 
wretched system that must be that ignores the 
public good to gain party ends ! This post- 
master was personally a warm admirer of Mr. 
Wilson, as proved by his acts, soon to be nar- 
rated, yet he sacrifices him in the interests of 
party craft. The facts were that Mr. Wilson 
was a man with a conscience, and he could not 
indorse the violence and proslavery tendencies 
of the administration. He would speak out of 
his great soul for justice even though it cost 
him his position. H^e was an outspoken enemy 
of wrong, and the price he paid for his manli- 
ness was dismission from the post he had held 
so long and served so faithfully. 

All hail ! say we to such manhood. But 
while we praise his fidelity to his convictions 
of right, let us heap eternal anathemas on that 
partisan policy that demands such a course 
under the plea of party exigency. The blame 
rests more heavily on the system than on any 
individual. The system is nothing less than a 



The Preparation Period, 95 

gigantic method of corrupting American cit- 
izens, and should be abolished at all hazards ; 
and the man who upholds it, as it has been 
practiced in the past, is unworthy the suffrages 
and confidence of any community. A man of 
less nobility of nature than Mr. Wilson would 
have concealed his views by silence, or prac- 
ticed the arts of the politician to keep his posi- 
tion, and would thus have had his conscience 
eaten up with the political dry-rot ; but, thanks 
to stern principle ! such is not the story we have 
to tell. Would that all Christians would go and 
do likewise in all similar circumstances of temp- 
tation ! Indeed, this is the only path of safety, 
and he who hesitates is periling his immortal 
soul 



96 A Life that Speaketh. 



CHAPTER V. 

MISSION WORK IN LAWRENCE. 

T N December, 1854, a meeting of the benevo- 
•^ lent citizens of Lawrence was called to con- 
sider some measures for the relief of persons 
temporarily needy. From this meeting sprang' 
the Lawrence Provident ..\ssociation. Its organ- 
ization was very simple. With the usual list of 
officers connected with every society, there were 
certain persons appointed in each ward to search 
out needy cases and distribute its funds. These 
were raised in the several Churches, and by 
private contributions. The great defect in the 
system was its lack of personal responsibility. 
It needed unity of action, a centralizing mind. 

In February, 1859, ^^^ postmaster, then ed- 
itor of the *' Lawrence Sentinel," anticipating 
the removal of Mr. Wilson from his employ for 
political reasons, and not relishing such an act 
toward one whom he truly esteemed without 
some token of friendly feeling, suggested in an 
editorial the propriety of changing the organiza- 



I 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 97 

tion of the Provident Association, so as to make 
it more effective, by the appointment of a city- 
missionary. The suggestion met with universal 
favor. Acting upon this pubhc feeUng, in the 
next issue of the paper, February 26^ 1859, ^P' 
peared this editorial item :— 

..." The real want is a good man, a practi- 
cal Christian of sound judgment, a heart devoted 
to the cause of benevolence, and a mind as little 
biased with sectarianism as may be reasonably 
expected. The undertaking is favored by the 
fact that we have such a person among us, Mr. 
George P. Wilson. 

** He has been long and favorably known to 
the citizens of Lawrence, and his acquaintance 
with the character, history, and necessities of 
the poor in this city is excelled by none other. 
It is a singular proof of his fitness for the place, 
and the general favor his appointment would 
meet with, that, of a recent article in the 
'Sentinel' upon the subject, almost every body 
understood the description of the requisite qual- 
ifications of a missionary to point directly to 
Mr. Wilson, although no personal mention of 
him was made." 

How kind in the good postmaster to let him 

7 



98 A Life that Speaketh. 

down so easily ! But there is a divinity over all 
things, even politics, as this case most clearly 
proves ; for thus we have a faithful letter carrier 
transferred by party exigencies to a field of the 
most prominent usefulness. We thank God for 
his overruling hand, not the partisan spirit that 
demanded the sacrifice. 

The " Lawrence American," alluding to the 
above article in the " Sentinel," says : *' We 
heartily and fully indorse these sentiments. 
We have known Mr. Wilson long, and some- 
what intimately, and a more earnest, devoted, 
conscientious, true-hearted Christian we have 
never met." 

In response to these suggestions a meeting 
of delegates from each religious society was 
called. Twenty-six delegates came together 
and unanimously resolved to form a city mis- 
sionary society. A committee appointed to 
report a plan of organization brought in to a 
subsequent meeting the following report : " We 
are confirmed in the opinion so freely expressed 
at our last meeting, that the estabHshment of a 
city mission, free from sectarian bias, for the 
purpose of friendly counsel, encouragement, and 
material aid to the poor and friendless, is a 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 99 

measure that promises results of a most bene- 
ficial character. . . . Your committee recom- 
mend the establishment of a city mission by the 
appointment of George P. Wilson as mission- 
ary, . . . also the formation of a board of advice, 
consisting of one delegate from each contrib- 
uting religious society, and the president of the 
Provident Association." The nomination of Mr. 
Wilson v/as unanimously confirmed, no one else 
being presented or thought of for the new office. 
Mr. Wilson entered at once upon his duties. 
His first entry in his Diary reads as follows : 

" Wednesday y March 23, 1859. — -^"^ ^^w fair- 
ly appointed to the responsible office of city 
missionary. I enter upon my duties feeling 
deeply my own weakness and insufficiency, with 
an earnest desire to do good, with a heartfelt 
sympathy for the poor for whom Jesus died, 
and with a humble reliance upon God for help, 
wisdom, and strength. I hope to accomplish 
some good." 

During his first year's administration he was 
called, by an awful calamity, to the most ardu- 
ous service. The loth day of January, i860, 
will never be forgotten in Lawrence. The trav- 
eler, passing from the city on the Boston and 



loo A Life that Speaketh. 

Maine Railroad, will notice in great letters on 
the gable end of a brick structure this word — 

"PEMBERTOX." 

Few see that word, even after the lapse of a 
dozen years, without an involuntar}^ shudder. 

The old residents of Lawrence seldom refer 
to the event that took place upon that spot. 
The recollections are too harrowing to be long 
entertained. There, on the tenth day of Jan- 
uary, without a moment's w^arning, fell a massive 
manufacturing edifice, burying in its ruins more 
than six hundred human beings. There, in the 
darkness of the night, a fatal spark ignited the 
chaotic mass of combustibles, and burned to a 
crisp scores of men, w^omen, and children caught 
in the ruins. Words cannot photograph the 
horrors of that night. The wail that went up 
from Lawrence was like the wail of Egypt when 
the death angel passed over the land, and it w^as 
said in every house, '' My first born is dead." 
A granite shaft, reared by the city in her beau- 
tiful cemeterv, covers the ashes of her citizens 
— the unrecognized victims of that dreadful 
calamity. We need not linger over the scene, 
except to say that ]\Ir. Wilson was there and 



Mission Work in Lawrence. lor 

every-where, an angel of mercy and relief. 
Fortunately, I am enabled to give documentary 
evidence of his manifold labors. In a history 
of the fall of the '' Pemberton," published soon 
after the event, appears this reference to him : — 
" A room at the City Hall was occupied by 
Mr. George P. Wilson, the City Missionary. It 
was made a depot for all the medicines, band- 
ages, and articles of food and clothing which 
were sent in for the sufferers, and a rendezvous 
for those engaged in distributing them, and 
otherwise employed under his direction. The 
services of several assistants were required in 
the room, which was at times thronged by appli- 
cants for aid. The contributions of articles 
required to relieve those suffering from poverty 
or wounds were quite generous, and such neces- 
sary articles as were not contributed were sup- 
plied from the funds raised. The missionary 
himself was untiring in his labors. From 
morning till night he passed from house to 
house, personally inspecting the condition of 
the needy, and dispensing comfort to all. At 
the distribution room he was assisted by his 
wife, a young lady, and a young man, whose 
continual attention was required. All of the 



102 A Life that Speaketh. 

contributions and the purchases brought were 
there arranged for distribution. All applicants, 
in the absence of the missionary, were referred 
to the ward committees, and no articles were 
delivered except upon their order. Hundreds 
have been aided by the missionary and his 
assistants, and much suffering prevented, and 
much trouble alleviated by these means." 

When the news of the calamity spread 
through the land, large sums of money were 
raised and forwarded to Lawrence to relieve the 
families of the injured and dead. The city 
immediately appointed a responsible committee 
to distribute these funds. The report of that 
committee makes due acknowledgment of the 
services of Mr. Wilson :- — 

" On the devoted City Missionary, the usual 
channel of benevolent sympathy in our com- 
munity, we knew we could always depend, but 
we thought it would be unwise to withdraw him 
from his other duties for this, as we felt that 
there was danger in this great and overwhelm- 
ing calamity that other and ordinary objects of 
charitable assistance might be forgotten, and 
we meant to leave them to his care. Assisted 
by his excellent wife, he gave his days and 



I 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 103 

nights with unsurpassed devotion to the service 
of God and man, and through him many a dy- 
ing bed was soothed and cheered by the gentle 
influence of a true and all-embracing Christian 
piety.'' 

At the close of the year the new Society held 
its first anniversary. Commenting upon the 
report of the City Missionary, the " Lawrence 
American" says : — 

" The Board of Advice were exceedingly for- 
tunate in their selection of a person to carry 
out the responsible and peculiar work of a mis- 
sionary to the poor and unfortunate. Mr. Wil- 
son entered upon, and has prosecuted through- 
out, his labors with the earnestness and zeal of 
one whose whole soul was enlisted in this mis- 
sion, and brought also the most fitting and 
effective qualifications for success. Those who 
have had occasion to receive his kind offices 
have met alike with sympathy, aid, and encour- 
agement, and felt they had in him, however poor 
and unfortunate in their circumstances, a friend 
and helper in whom to confide." 

The " Sentinel," referring to these friendly 
words of the *' American," remarks : — 

*' Right again. A better man for the place 



104 A Life that Speaketh. 

cannot be found. His judicious and warm- 
hearted administration of the peculiar and re- 
sponsible duties of his trust has gained from 
his fellow-citizens the highest respect and com- 
mendation. Long may he be retained in the 
position which he so well fills ! '' 

Such are some of the testimonies to his fidel- 
ity during the first year of his missionary life. 
It may not be amiss just here to consider the 
nature of his work. What did he do ? How 
did he do it ? 

It is fitting that Mr. Wilson should answer 
these questions himself. Fortunately he has done 
so, and it is my task simply to arrange the mat- 
ter he himself has written. If space permitted, 
his Diary, full of pathetic tales of suffering and 
of personal efforts to relieve destitution and 
reform the lost, should be inserted ; but the his- 
tory of those years of mission toil can better 
be told by reference to his annual reports. At 
every recurring anniversary of the mission a 
public meeting was held in the City Hall. No 
gatherings were more popular. The large hall 
was always crowded to its utmost capacity to 
hear the report of the missionary and speeches 
from prominent citizens. Mr. Wilson^s reports 



I 



Mission Work in Lawrence. 105 

are excelled by none of a similar character. 
The style is clear, flowing, direct, the sug- 
gestions weighty and wise ; the subject-matter 
methodically and naturally arranged, and per- 
vaded with a frankness, honesty, and love for 
lost men, that make them irresistibly powerful. 
They are great in their simplicity — one of the best 
qualities of style. They show he was a practical, 
clear-headed business man as well as a philanthro- 
pist. I shall take up his work by departments, 
culling from all his reports without usually men- 
tioning the year in which the thoughts are found. 

" Ho^7V ^?ve have Relieved Want. 

" Ruskin says : * You know that to give alms 
is nothing, unless you give thought also ; and 
therefore it is written, not " Blessed is he that 
feedeth the poor, but blessed is he that con- 
sidereth the poor." * Your missionary was ap- 
pointed, this mission established, to consider 
the poor, to find them out ; to look closely into 
their circumstances ; to give or to withhold char- 
ity, as it might be, in our judgment, for their 
best good. Our first work was to find out the 
impostors, exposing them to the public^ warning 
our benevolent people against their wiles, and 



io6 A Life that Speaketh. 

in a few years we have been almost entirely 
relieved from street beggars. 

" It is always easier to give and receive 
blessings than to withhold, and just as surely 
receive, curses. But we soon became used to 
this, and, without fear, acted for the best good 
of those we were employed to consider. We en- 
tered into the homes of the poor, sought and won 
their confidence ; advised, encouraged, showed 
them how to help themselves when possible, 
and thus have never expended a great amount 
of money ; only, as a general rule, helping wor- 
thy individuals or families over hard places. . . . 
Many people ask. What is your mission ? How 
is the money received from the Churches ex- 
pended } We answer. The donations for the 
Relief Fund are deposited in the bank. When 
we relieve want we do not usually give money, 
but orders upon the grocer, wood dealer, etc., 
thus making sure that they receive the article 
they need, and avoiding temptation to spend 
the money for something else, and at the end 
of every quarter these orders are presented, 
with the bills as vouchers, and all accounts 
settled. Two hours of each day are spent at 
the office, where we receive those who come for 



II 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 107 

relief. In the afternoon we visit the homes of 
these applicants, to see if their stories are true. 
We go among those who have no minister,' who 
belong to no rehgious society, for whom no one 
has a special care. Many families are Hable to 
fall into distress when they first come into the 
city; they are strangers, to whom shall they 
look for sympathy 1 Who shall minister to 
their wants and attend the funerals of such 
families ? This is our work. It is by no means 
a light labor to do this kind of work in a city 
like ours, where there are so many kinds of 
people, so much intemperance, so much poverty 
and misery, and so many to please. 

" Mission life at the house and office is often 
very perplexing and discouraging. We go home 
from our office for dinner and rest, and are fre- 
quently met by persons who are waiting about 
the door, and before we can finish dinner the 
bell calls us twice or thrice to answer some one 
who has failed to meet us at the office, and 
must be attended to immediately. 

"Some one asks. What do all the people 
want } Here are a few of their wants : One 
wants the city doctor, a very frequent request ; 
one brings a recipe for medicine for which they 



io8 A Life that Speaketh. 

are unable to pay, and we become their in- 
dorser ; some barefooted boy or girl, aye, whole 
families of them, want shoes and stockings ; 
some traveler wants a place to stay over night ; 
many hungry ones come to be fed, and are not 
turned away unfilled ; very many come for em- 
ployment ; a baby is left upon a doorstep, some 
one comes to me to provide for it ; another 
comes for recommendation to get into the hos- 
pital ; others to get out of the city, and are un- 
able to walk ; some want letters written ; some 
wish to sign the temperance pledge ; some 
come for us to visit the sick and dying ; some 
want advice and counsel ; some come to be 
married and some to be baptized ; some call us 
to bury the dead. Here comes a strong man, 
with a red face, and breath redolent with 
beer ; he insists upon having money to buy a 
ticket for Haverhill. We tell him he is per- 
fectly able to walk ; he goes away very angry. 
Curses are plentiful, and plentifully bestowed 
when aid is withheld. To-day there comes a 
woman with three small children clinging to 
her. Her story is also a frequent one ; her 
husband has deserted her, and she is left desti- 
tute, without clothes and food. Our mission- 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 109 

room is searched to find cast-off garments to 
cover them. This is a very important part of 
our work. Our clothing establishment, if not 
as large and elegant as many on Essex-street, is 
very largely patronized, and makes many a moth- 
er glad and happy in seeing the nakedness of her 
children covered. Over in yonder street is a 
young couple only a few months here, the 
mother sick with fever, the father the only 
nurse. Very excellent people they are, and it 
is our privilege to supply their most pressing 
wants, and to interest Christian friends in 
them, who bring sympathy and every needed 
aid. 

'' Over in a distant part of the city is a family 
of new-comers, who are well off when all can 
work. Typhoid fever makes its appearance ; 
one after another is laid on a sick-bed. Now 
is their time of need ; this is their hard place 
over which we are enabled, with your aid, to 
help them. Seeking for employment for the 
destitute is a very important part of our work ; 
visiting among the poor during sickness occu- 
pies much of our time, and affords us many op- 
portunities for doing good both to body and 
soul, and we often go away from such scenes 



no A Life that Speaketh. 

richer in our own experience, and thankful for 
the blessed privilege of going about to do good. 

" Religious Work. 

'* We have acted upon the same principles 
that have guided us from the first, namely, to 
distribute alms in a Christian manner, to give 
food and clothes where needed, before tracts 
and sermons, yet to keep constantly in mind 
that the religion of Jesus Christ is the one 
great need of rich and poor alike. More than 
usual attention has been paid this year, or dur- 
ing the summer months, to visiting the Protest- 
ant poor, and especially the families of strangers, 
where there was sickness, and it has been one 
of the pleasantest features of the mission work 
that we have in many cases been able to min- 
ister to the spiritual necessities of those who 
had all bodily comforts needed, but who had no 
home, no pastor, no religious friend. Some 
such during the past year it has been my happy 
privilege to lead to the Friend that sticketh 
closer than a brother. Very gratefully have 
such ministrations been received ; many have 
been directed to the church and Sabbath- 
school. 



Mission Work in Lawrence. in 

" My Sabbaths have been very fatiguing, but 
blessed, happy days. I usually leave my house 
at half past eight in the morning, have preach- 
ing service at the jail at nine, and then a Sab- 
bath-school for half or three quarters of an hour, 
in which I usually have a class, and close with 
general exercises aad blackboard lessons, and 
then, if not elsewhere engaged, spend an hour 
with the prisoners in conversation, distributing 
tracts, etc. This takes usually three hours. 
Then, before going home, I frequently visit a 
Sabbath-school, and, in the afternoon and even- 
ing, nearly always am engaged in religious 
meetings, frequently attending funerals on Sun- 
day, so that I have many times had constant 
and wearying labor from half past eight in the 
morning until nine at night ; and this has been 
the programme for ten years. There is no part 
of the work we enjoy so much, inasmuch as the 
most of it is not official, or required of us by the 
board, but voluntary, loving labor for the souls 
of men." 

And the amount of work thus performed 
by Mr. Wilson on the Sabbath is almost in- 
credible. His preaching at all seemed to be 
purely providential Soon after his appoint- 



112 A Life that Speaketh 

ment as missionary, he attended the religious 
services at the jail, and distributed tracts among 
the prisoners. The chaplain, an aged man, was 
in very poor health, and often requested him to 
assist in the devotional exercises. In the latter 
part of 1859 ^^^ chaplain was taken ill, and Mr. 
Wilson was called upon to officiate in his stead. 
His Diary says : — 

"Sunday, October '^o, 1859. — • • • I conducted 
the whole of the services at the jail for the first 
time. I hardly dared to attempt to preach. I 
spoke for forty minutes from John iii, 14, 15. 
God helped me and I was not confounded. I 
hope good was done." 

At this time he held an exhorter's license, 
and such was his acceptability when he at- 
tempted to preach that, in April, i860, he re- 
ceived a local preacher s license, and was bidden 
God speed in his good work. 

It is no light testimony to the man to say 
that no one was more acceptable to the pulpits 
of all denominations in Lawrence than Mr. 
Wilson. Almost every Sabbath he had calls 
from some society for a discourse. Running 
over his Diary at random, I find the statement 
against almost every Sabbath of from one to 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 113 

four sermons, in addition to funerals, and ad- 
dresses to Sunday-schools, and temperance lect- 
ures—an amount of work simply wonderful. He 
seemed literally to fly from church to church, 
greeted every-where with loving glances and 
hearty graspings of the hand from young and 
old, preaching, talking, in his own genial, hearty 
way, and stimulating every body by his pres- 
ence to a better life. The advent of Mr. Wilson 
in a church was a signal for a general buzz of 
gladness. O how the good people of Lawrence 
loved him ! But we continue his description 
of his work : — 

"House of Correction and Jail. 

" The Gospel and Christian labor should, like 
the sun, shine upon rich and poor, vile and pure, 
alike. 

" To do good to the infamous is to follow the 
steps of Him of whom it was said, 'This man 
receiveth sinners and eateth with them.' From 
the commencement of the mission work we 
have been interested in the prisoners, following 
them from their homes to the prison when there 
was another chaplain, carrying tracts, papers, 
friendly counsel and encouragement as best we 



114 A Life that Speaketh. 

could, until we were appointed, nine years ago, 
chaplain. This must, of course, be mostly like 
seed sown in stony ground and by the wayside. 
But they are the ' forgotten ones,' sometimes 

* Without ever a word of pity, 
Or a touch of a kindly hand/ 

O how much they need the comforts of His 
blessed religion ! We have not ceased tenderly 
to remonstrate, entreat, advise, and instruct 
them, in public and private ; and here and there 
we find one who leads a new life after his or 
her release."^ 

These words introduce us to a subject that 
occupied Mr. Wilson s attention and enhsted his 
sympathies more than any other feature of his 
work. I refer to the treatment of criminals. The 
problem of criminality, its origin and prevention, 
is one of the most interesting and important 
among our social questions. Many noble minds 
are now grappling with it, and inculcating wiser 
methods in the treatment of the criminal classes 
than we have hitherto pursued. Mr. Wilson's 
philanthropic nature was early interested in 
the study of these subjects. He examined the 
question both theoretically and practically. It 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 115 

was his custom to procure the best of treatises 
on criminal treatment, and study them in the 
light of his own experience ; he attended con- 
ventions where such subjects were discussed, 
sought information from the best and most ex- 
perienced minds, and tested for himself the 
value of every suggestion. 

Such was his practical wisdom that he became 
quite skillful in handling these intricate ques- 
tions. He made a reputation among some of 
the best thinkers on such matters. Had he 
given himself scientifically to the subject, he 
might have won enduring fame and gained a 
national notoriety. The power was in him, but 
it was spent in other lines of usefulness. 

It may not be amiss to sum up some of his 
views on these points as given in his reports. 
These, of course, have a local application, and 
may not be stated as broadly as if he were gen 
eralizing principles for society at large, and yet 
the local statement involves the more general 
application. 

'' We still warmly and earnestly protest against 
the false principle of confining young boys with 
adult criminals ; we sometimes have over twen- 
ty boys in our jail. It is all zvrong. All parties 



ii6 A Life that Speaketh. 

who examine this matter condemn it. The 
officers of the prison and each annual visiting 
committee condemn it. How shall it be stopped ? 
If no other way the Legislature should forbid it, 
and compel each city and town to provide a 
school for their own boys, if no better way can 
be devised. We again call the attention of our 
citizens to the manner of raising up hardened 
criminals to prey upon society in the future. 
Why may not our new small-pox hospital, which 
never has been used, and perhaps may never be 
needed for the purpose for which it was built, 
be devoted to a Lawrence Reform School for 
Boys ? It would be a saving for our city in 
the end, I sincerely believe, and we should be 
discharging our duty to these poor wretched 
children who have no one to control them, and 
from whom our future drunkards and criminals 
are to be made." 

" There is practically much unbelief in the 
minds of many in regard to the reformation 
and conversion of criminals. Prison discipline 
and accommodations are wonderfully improved 
since the days of Howard, yet human nature is 
still the same. The Christian heart must be 
stirred, as was Mrs. Fry*s, 'by a sympathy 



Mission Work in Lawrence. 1 1 7 

toward those who, by yielding themselves to the 
bondage of sin, have become victims of human 
justice/ The law must be vindicated, and the 
penalty meted out ; yet justice can be mingled 
with mercy. The prisoner must be recognized 
as a man, and his higher nature appealed to ; 
the religion of the Lord Jesus Christ presented 
to him as his only safety/' 

" What shall be Done ^?vith our Bad Boys ? 
" It is the custom of our courts to send boys 
who are convicted of truancy, vagrancy, petty 
larceny, and for some graver offenses, to the 
county jail and House of Correction. During 
the past year there have been in the Law- 
rence jail fifty-four boys from the ages of six 
to seventeen, and nineteen under twelve years 
of age, confined in the same cells, working in 
the same workshops with adult criminals. This 
class of boys, who are to make the criminal 
classes of our city in the future, are alarmingly 
on the increase. With our present treatment 
we are paying a premium to juvenile criminals, 
and sowing seed that shall yield us a bitter 
harvest in future years. A short sentence at 
the county jail has no reformatory influence 



ii8 A Life that Speaketh. 

over them. We owe it to our children, who 
are to form the future population of our city, 
that these boys of vicious proclivities be re- 
strained and reformed — that some judicious, 
continued reformatory discipline be applied to 
them. But very few can be sent to the State 
Reform School at Westborough, for it is impos- 
sible to send all the unruly boys of the Com- 
monwealth to one institution. It would cause 
an immense establishment, so large as to defeat 
the end sought. The school at Westborough 
is too large now, and only that part that is 
managed upon the home system outside of the 
main building is at all satisfactory in its re- 
sults. There is a plan that has been success- 
fully tried for several years in Lowell that 
could be adopted here with comparatively little 
expense, namely, a reform school connected 
with the City Alms-house and Farm, and yet 
distinct from it as far as association of the in- 
mates is concerned ; a school where all this 
class of boys could be sent for a long term, 
where they could be taught to work, and trained 
to be a blessing instead of a curse to the com- 
munity. There is also another plan, involving 
more expense, but far better in my judgment 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 119 

for the end desired, and that is a ' Home/ con- 
sisting of suitable buildings, workshop, farm, or 
garden, to be under the charge of a kind-hearted 
Christian man or woman, where the children of 
misfortune, neglect, or crime, who have been 
from their earliest infancy exposed to every 
thing evil and contaminating, shall be warmed 
by love, and led to lives of usefulness and honor. 
This is practicable only by liberal donations 
from wealthy citizens. Is it not our duty to 
institute some such scheme to prevent crime, 
to control the education of those who are un- 
controlled, and at present unmanageable?" 

These suggestions are of permanent value, 
inasmuch as they are so universally disre- 
garded. Society must take advance steps in 
her treatment of youthful rogues and incipient 
criminals before we can materially reduce the 
criminal classes. The most liberal provision is 
the cheapest. Economy in this direction is 
simply short-sightedness. Mr. Wilson's ear- 
nest protests against our usual policy of making 
no discrimination among criminals on account 
of age should find a hearty response in every 
breast. The problem of criminality in a high 
state of civilization has but one possible solu- 



I20 A Life that Speaketh. 

tion, namely, a wisely regulated home in every 
community for waifs and youthful violators of 
law. Every child should have from some 
source a healthful discipline, and if its natural 
protectors fail to give it, society, at any cost, 
should appoint a competent substitute. Such 
a policy pays in the end, even in the matter of 
dollars and cents. 

" Evening School. 

" It lias been one of the greatest pleasures of 
our life to be connected with this institution for 
the eleven years of its history. While it has 
not accomplished all we had hoped, perhaps all 
it ought to have done, yet we know it has been 
instrumental in forming habits of study in the 
minds of hundreds of our young working peo- 
ple, and it has been the means of advancing to 
positions of usefulness and trust very many 
who, had it not been for some such oppor- 
tunity, would never have thought of rising to 
higher positions. Not long since, while hunt- 
ing for a sick woman in one of our crowded 
streets, I met a matronly-looking lady who had 
two small children. She seemed surprised that 
I did not know her. She said she was formerly 



Mission Life in Lawrence, 121 

a member of the evening school, and ^ I want to 
thank you for the privilege of the night school, 
for there I received all the education I ever 
had/ I have several hundred letters written 
by the scholars to me during the eleven years 
of the school, and many of them are filled with 
expressions of gratitude for the privilege of at- 
tending the * night school/ " 

"Se^Tving School. 
"For nearly thirteen years this humble in- 
strumentality has kept on, in its quiet way, 
bringing forth fruit of hope and blessing. We 
frequently meet with young women, sometimes 
with married ladies, who say, ' I learned to sew 
in your " Mission Sewing-School." ' The name 
calls up to our mind a pleasant picture of 
from forty to fifty little girls, with bright, happy 
faces, who love to come every week to meet 
their kind teachers, and learn that which will 
be a blessing to them all through life. While 
sewing, the time is pleasantly enlivened with 
songs and delightful stories, teaching lessons 
of morality, gentleness, and truthfulness, thus 
helping these dear young girls to form habits 
that shall make them comely, and useful in the 
social and home duties of after life/' 



122 A Life that Speaketh. 

It has been remarked by a recent writer 
"that a philanthropist is a weak man;" assum- 
ing in this statement that strong love is never 
associated with a clear, judicious intellect. No 
doubt there is ground for such an assertion. 
Great benevolence of feeling is frequently 
marked by little wisdom in the treatment of its 
objects of compassion. Some parents are so 
tender-hearted and loving that they ruin their 
children through lenity and indulgence. There 
are multitudes of goodish people who manifest, 
under the name of Christianity, a species of 
compassion for criminals, and a desire to shield 
them from justice, which, if yielded to, would 
inevitably lead to social disorganization. There 
is such a thing as mercy which is unmerciful. 
Mr. Wilson was not a man of this character. 
He was great-hearted, unselfish, enthusiastic, 
but he was not weak. He was as wise as he 
was pitiful. He had no maudlin, unhealthy 
sympathy in his soul. His sense of justice was 
as strong as his feeling of compassion. Hence 
he was prudent in the treatment of applicants 
for charity. Though as tender-hearted as a 
child, yet his mind was not warped by his feel- 
ings. He detected imposition with a glance 



Missio7t Life in Lawrence, 123 

of intuition. He seemed to read men's souls 
by a kind of inspiration. Impostors dreaded 
him. They could seldom outwit his incisive 
questions into their manufactured tales of woe. 
It may not be amiss to give to the public some 
of his sentiments on street-begging, and the 
ends to be sought in bestowing charities : — 

" Vagrancy. 

" Indiscriminate charity is a great evil. Better 
not give at all than give to all who ask, with- 
out investigation. While we have ever had an 
honest desire to care for and help all honest 
poor, we have sought from the first to prevent 
and discourage vagrancy and street-begging so 
far as we were able. It is the duty of a Chris- 
tian people to inquire how best to relieve the 
destitute, keeping in view th^ prevention as well 
as the relief of poverty. There can be no ob- 
jection to benevolent families selecting objects 
that they know will make good use of their 
benefactions, and supplying them with food, 
clothing, etc. But to do so to strangers who 
come to your door, is in nine cases out of ten 
paying a premium to thieves and vagrants. It 
is necessary sometimes to be cruel in order to 



124 A Life that Speaketh. 

be kind. Persons not thrown upon their own 
resources, are apt, when able to take care of 
themselves, to become vagrants and pests ; 
whereas, if left to help themselves, they would, 
by putting forth the energy necessary, acquire 
habits of industry far more valuable than the 
alms they receive/' 

Such are not the words of weak sentimental- 
ity, but of sound wisdom. The highest type 
of benevolence is not that which simply relieves 
destitution, but that which builds up a manly 
character. Both are benevolent, but to help a 
man take care of himself is the greatest charity. 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 125 



CHAPTER VI. 

MISSION WORK IN LAWRENCE CONTINUED. 

"A Gro^A^ing Evil. 

'* 'T^HAT community which exercises the 
■^ most healthful control over its young 
people, and educates them best in moral and 
religious ideas as well as in letters, is the most 
perfect model of state or city. 

*' No one who carefully observes can help 
seeing the growing recklessness of many of our 
young people ; the want of politeness, and the 
positive rudeness, obscenity, and profanity, ex- 
hibited upon our public streets. The habit of 
profanity on the Sabbath is fearfully common 
among men and women, and even boys and 
girls. I am not a croaker. I do not belong to, 
or sympathize with, the race at all. Yet it is 
my province and duty, as one of the conserv- 
ators of the public morals, to declare the truth 
at proper times, however uncomplimentary to 
us the truth may be. Who are these young 
people who thus belittle and disgrace them- 



126 A Life that Speaketh. 

selves, and stain the good reputation of our 
city ? Can we see no connection between this 
growing scandal and the multiplying of beer 
saloons on our streets ? These institutions 
have never proved great conservators of public 
morals. The lessons learned in them are not 
to be repeated before refined and delicate ears. 
Yet the fact stands clear, that hundreds of our 
young people are learning in these ' devil's 
•schools' lessons that are already bringing forth 
their baleful fruits to curse the land. Woe 
unto us if we do not, as we may have oppor- 
tunity, destroy these schools of vice, and gain 
these young hearts for temperance, virtue, and 
reHgion ! " 

These sentiments, from one of Mr. Wilson's 
Reports, give us- a fitting introduction to his 
efforts in behalf of temperance. This great 
cause enlisted his warmest sympathies, and was 
one of the heaviest burdens he carried upon his 
heart. 

*^Band of Hope and Temperance. 

^^ Strong dri7ik ! how many fine intellects hast 
thou ruined f how many strong 7ne7i hast thou 
m^ade weak ? how 7nany orphans and widows 
have to accuse thee of all their woe ? how many 



Mission Work in Lawrence. 127 

of thy victims hast thou doomed to the cold, dark 
grave ? My heart is pained beyond expression 
at the prevalence of intemperance and tempta- 
tion to drink in our city. Ask the drunkard if 
the evils of intemperance can be overestimated, 
and the answer is, 'The half cannot be told/ 
An intelligent mechanic came to my house not 
long since to sign the temperance pledge. His 
story is similar to hundreds of others. He was 
a good workman ; could have excellent wages, 
and support his family comfortably. But, alas ! 
that family had been robbed ; the children 
shamefully defrauded ; that wife made so miser- 
able that she said, with terrible earnestness, 
*Mr. Wilson, when my husband is sober our 
little home seems like heaven, but when he is 
drunk it is like hell' I frequently hear these 
strong sentences from those whose souls have 
been pierced with the unutterable woes of a 
drunkard's home. 

"The best theory of reform is that which 
pre-empts the soil of the heart of the child, sows 
good seed, and nurtures the growth of right 
principles, thus preventing the formation of 
habits that shall lead to drunkenness and crime. 
This we are doing in the Band of Hope, where 



128 A Life that Speaketh. 

children, with the consent of their parents, take 
the following 

"'Pledge. — I solemnly promise to abstain 
from the use of all intoxicating liquors as a 
drink, from the use of tobacco in every form, 
and from all profanity. I will be true to my 
country's flag, true to my word, and will try to 
do right/ 

*' I am every year more and more convinced 
of the importance of specific, definite teaching 
of these great moral truths. This little pledge 
carries with it, as it is repeated every week, 
lessons of the utmost importance to these 
young people. We still keep tobacco in our 
pledge, because we believe the use of it to be 
decidedly injurious to our boys. We have the 
approval of the parents ; for whatever may be 
their habits, they desire their children to be 
free, not only from strong drink, but from to- 
bacco also. These lessons are taught with 
songs, recitations, addresses, etc. We look 
upon this work with intense satisfaction, as 
promising good fruit." 

Such were Mr. Wilson's views on "moral 
suasion." 

This little Band of Hope was a voluntary 






Mission Work in Lawrence, 129 

gathering of the children of the city every 
Saturday afternoon in a large room in the 
City Hall, granted for the purpose. The 
exercises, as before stated, consisted in repeat- 
ing the pledge in concert, speaking pieces, 
singing inspiring temperance melodies, and list- 
ening to remarks from Mr. Wilson and others. 
It shows his great power over children, that for 
years he was enabled to gather hundreds of 
them in such a place in the joyful play-hours 
allotted to them. These labors were extremely 
taxing, and yet they were voluntarily taken 
upon himself that he might save the youth 
from the drunkard's doom. Mr. Wilson de- 
lighted in the pledge and moral suasion, but he 
was too broad a man to stop at that point. He 
was a pronounced prohibitionist, a radical among 
radicals. Let him speak for himself: — 

. . . ** I cannot speak differently ; my convic- 
tions and impressions of twelve years' growth 
among the poor and wretched must have utter- 
ance. It has been my most earnest endeavor 
and constant habit to try and save the drunkard 
and shield the young. I have induced many 
hundreds to sign a total abstinence pledge. 

But O how my heart aches to see (and worse 
-9 



130 , A Life that Speaketh. 

than all powerless to prevent*) the temptation 
to which these poor reformed men and women 
are exposed ; temptation^ alas ! that the most of 
them are unable to resist. Especially is this 
true of those who sign the pledge at the jail, or 
immediately after leaving. They sign, many of 
them, without any mental reservation ; having 
felt the 'woe,' they would fain escape the 
final ' bite,' and ' sting.' They really desire for 
their own sake, and for the poor suffering wife 
and children, to be temperate ; and could they, 
when liberated, be placed in a community like 
Vineland, N. J., where no intoxicating drinks 
could be had, very many of them would be sober 
men, would support their families, and be useful 
members of society. Thank God ! some do this 
and are happy ; but, alas ! nine tenths of them 
get drunk again, wickedly tempted by one hun- 
dred and fifty grog-shops which are licensed, 
even here in Lawrence, to do just this work of 
destruction. We believe in moral suasion for 
the drunkard. For many years we have, al- 
most daily, labored with him and the moderate 
drinker, and more especially and hopefully with 

* The prohibitory law of Massachusetts had at that time 
been repealed, and a license law substituted. 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 131 

the dear children ; and we mean, with God's 
help, to ' fight it out on that line ' so long as 
we live. But we also beheve, just as strongly, 
in the right of society to protect itself against 
all enemies, and especially this, her greatest 
one. We believe we have the right, as citizens 
interested in the welfare of this city, to say 
that one hundred and fifty men shall not be 
withdrawn from honest business, and be al- 
lowed by statute law to maintain establish- 
ments which tend only to the ruin of individuals 
and families." 

It was not in the nature of Mr. Wilson to 
hold such convictions in silence. He gave 
them utterance with the power of an ancient 
prophet. For years he was Secretary of the 
Lawrence Temperance Alliance — an open or- 
ganization, embracing among its members some 
of the most influential citizens. The heaviest 
burdens of the Society fell upon its energetic 
secretary. He was the originator of its meet- 
ings, the inspiring mind that kept it awake to 
the issues of the hour. Probably no city in 
Massachusetts held more temperance meet- 
ings, or was more vigorously addressed dur- 
ing these years, than the city of Lawrence. 



132 A Life that Speaketh. 

Mr. Wilson was a lion on this question. I have 
listened to his thrilling appeals — his great heart 
bleeding with the sorrows of others, his voice, 
now tremulous with emotion, now terrible in its 
thunderings against the crimes of the tempted 
or the weak — until my whole being was aflame 
with admiration at the moral nobility of the 
man, and the overwhelming pathos of his art- 
less, but heroic utterances. 

It is sometimes said of the dead, as an in- 
tended complirrferit, " He had no enemies." I 
am glad I cannot make such a statement of 
George P. Wilson. Such a remark is equiva- 
lent to a moral accusation. It proves either 
that the man was a negative nature, or an open 
compromiser with sin. He was neither. He 
was a man of positive convictions, and an out- 
spoken opponent of wrong. He had no selfish 
designs in his advocacy of moral reforms ; he 
sought no official rewards. He loved men, hated 
sin, desired human happiness, and instinctively 
arrayed himself against every thing that injured 
society. 

Coming as he did in daily contact with the 
horrors of intemperance, saluted on every hand 
with the hopeless wail of its victims, he learned 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 133 

to regard the liquor traffic with inexpressible 
loathing. Its sorrows penetrated his inmost 
soul. He heard the plaintive pleadings of every 
drunkard's home calling to him for help. He 
was too noble to steel his heart against the out- 
cry, too good to bid his better nature be still, 
while he replied to the summons like too many 
selfish Cains, "Am I my brother's keeper.'*" 
He was too manly to take any equivocal posi- 
tion. He therefore came forth, a self-appointed 
advocate, in behalf of wretched famihes. He 
championed with all his heart the cause of the 
tempted against the tempter. He chose to 
fight with no other weapon than truth; but 
there is no other sharper, or more dreaded by 
the base. At times he wielded that weapon 
like a master, laying bare to the soul its selfish- 
ness, lust, and sin. He would stand before 
those Lawrence audiences, his heart on fire 
with sympathy for the helpless victims of the 
liquor traffic, and arraign the rumseller and his 
selfish coadjutors before the dread tribunal of 
their own consciences with a majesty that ap- 
proximated to the " woe unto you " of his 
blessed Master. No man can do that and lack 
enemies. The merciful and immaculate Son 



134 A Life that Speaketh. 

of God could not. Goodness, even to the point 
of perfection, will not shield a man from cruel 
malice who thus opposes the plans of the bad, 
and becomes an obstacle to the accomplishment 
of their selfish purposes. Such men strike back, 
but never in the manly way of honest argument. 
They hit the object of their hate as the assassin 
does, in the dark and from behind. Mr. Wilson 
knew what it was to feel the cold steel thrust 
into his sensitive heart by an unknown hand. 
The cowards took good care to conceal their 
names. Their articles in the public prints in- 
sinuating fraud, intemperate zeal, ministerial 
defilement, etc., were always anonymous. I 
have listened myself, in silence, to the most 
slanderous insinuations against him, when 
my whole nature rose up in wrathful pro- 
test. I knew too well its origin, baffled hopes, 
disappointed expectations, and a quivering 
conscience. 

This personal antagonism could not be at- 
tributed to any harshness or injudicious denun- 
ciations on his part. Such conduct was foreign 
to his whole nature. He was the soul of gen- 
tleness and love. He took no delight in wound- 
ing even an enemy. His utterances of truth, 



Mission Work in. Lawrence, 135 

that woke the passions of guilty men, were but 
the outcry of affection, wounded at the^ sight 
of the weak, struggling to get free from the 
meshes of appetite, but unable because of the 
selfishness of the tempter. His exposures of 
their conduct were but the thrilling appeals of 
a tortured soul to their dead consciences, that 
he might awaken them from their moral paraly- 
sis, and thus lead them to desist, through 
their own sense of blood-guiltiness, from their 
infamous crimes against society. In doing 
this he combined, in an unusual degree, great 
fidelity of speech with great tenderness of 
feeling ; qualities which should always comple- 
ment and modify each other in every teacher 
of morals. 

All hail such manhood as his ! It is blessed 
with heaven's benedictions. The closing be- 
atitude is surely verified in his experience : 
" Blessed are ye when men shall revile you, and 
persecute you, and shall say all manner of evil 
against you falsely, for my sake. Rejoice, and 
be exceeding glad : for great is your reward in 
heaven ; for so persecuted they the prophets 
which were before you." He was wiser than 
many in that he avoided the anathema of Jesus ; 



136 A Life that Speaketh. 

"Woe unto you when all men speak well of 
you/' 

But what does all this prove ? The noble 
spirit of the man. We have had from Mr. . 
Wilson's lips and pen many expressions of de- 
votion to the good of others, many testimonies 
of his desire to live to make men better and 
happy. His works prove that these sentiments 
were not cheap talk, baseless fancies, the senti- 
mentaUsms of the noveHst and day-dreamer. 
No man will do as he did without some genu- 
ine principle of self-sacrifice impelling him on. 
It was love for men born of God that inspired 
him to such devotion to his convictions of 
right. 

The indifferent and selfish pronounced him 
excited, intemperate in his strong advocacy of 
temperance principles, but it was that species 
of fanaticism that genuine Christianity never 
fails to produce. His was the heart-experience 
of Rev. Dr. Arnot, who, having been charged 
with "excitement" on this subject, broke forth 
in these words : " People need not tell me that 
I am excited on these questions ; I know that I 
am. I should be ashamed before God and man 
if I were riot, There is more in the public 



I 



Mission Work hi Lawre7ice, 137 

houses of Glasgow to stir the spirit of a minis- 
ter than all that Paul saw at Athens. In my 
ministry I meet the horrid fruits of these whis- 
ky shops ; I see men and women perishing in 
these pitfalls. The number of the victims is so 
great that it overwhelms me. My brain is 
burning, my heart is breaking. The Church is 
asleep, and the world too, and they are hugging 
each other. I am weary with holding in. I 
must cry. I would rather be counted singular 
in the judgment of men than be unfaithful in 
the judgment of God." 

Such men as these are the imperative demand 
of the times. The liquor traffic will never be 
subdued by foiled weapons and half-hearted 
opposition. It was the obstinate fighting of 
the *^ Wilderness " that broke the back of the 
rebellion, not the kid-glove parades of the years 
previous. Slavery died only in the spasms of a 
life-and-death struggle, and so only can we 
conquer the greater evil of rumselling. When 
society wakes up from its slothfulness and in- 
difference and passes through the heart-expe- 
riences of Mr. Wilson and Dr. Arnot, then, and 
not till that hour, can we hope for that rigor of 
soul that will meet and overcome the combined 



138 A Life that Speaketh. 

hosts of hell, that stand marshaled behind the 
liquor trade of the Republic. It is a burning 
shame that our Christianity gives us so few- 
such men. Every Christian should feel these 
heart-throbbings. May the hour hasten when 
Christian society shall fight this monstrosity of 
wickedness with the same pertinacity of pur- 
pose with which Grant moved across the Rap- 
idan to attack Lee ! When that hour comes 
the end is not far off. The struggle may be 
desperate, but it will be brief. 

One would think w^e had already revealed 
enough work for one man. But we are not yet 
done. Mr. Wilson was the servant of all. 
Other departments of labor received a share 
of his attention. Not the least taxing was that 
which the war threw upon him. 

During these years of bloody strife his heart 
and hands were enlisted in the welfare of the 
soldiers. Lawrence sent to the field during 
the rebellion from six to seven hundred men. 
One of her citizens was the first man who fell 
in the war. The first regiment in the field had 
in its ranks a company from this city. When 
they reached Washington, so hasty had been 
their departure they lacked some of the com- 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 139 

monest necessities of life. Mr. Wilson was the 
medium of supply. Books, clothing, dehcacies 
for the sick and wounded, passed through his 
hands to the field. He can best tell us some 
of his labors during these years : — 

" I have had opportunity to know, by personal 
examination in their tents and barracks, wit- 
nessing their daily life, something of the sacri- 
fice made of home, friends, society, business, 
every thing ; to know of the fierce temptations 
to which they were exposed, and all this for us 
and our children, for a holy, righteous cause. I 
know the joy they have felt in sending remit- 
tances to their families, for twice have I re- 
ceived it from their hands. I know the joy 
experienced by the mothers and wives in re- 
ceiving the remittance, for it has been my 
delightful privilege to distribute upward of 
thirteen thousand dollars among the families of 
our soldiers. It has not been my. privilege to 
participate in the active duties of the soldier on 
the battle-field ; but at home, and sometimes in 
the camp, to minister to the necessities of the 
brave ones who have represented us ; to care in 
some degree for the sick, wounded, and be- 
reaved ; t(. look after the widows and orphans ; 



140 A Life that Speaketh. 

to visit, encourage, and relieve, if necessary, 
the wounded or dying in the distant hospital ; 
to carry to them and receive from them their 
messages ; caring for the soldiers' money, and 
expending it for their families — these have 
been some of our duties in connection with the 
army." 

These experiences, voluntarily taken upon 
himself, involved no little care and perplexing 
toil. Again and again he visited the army, 
carrying messages and supplies, delivering 
them in person to their various destinations, 
receiving in return letters, packages, large 
sums of money, all of which were 'sacredly 
delivered to friends at home, or, as often hap- 
pened in the latter case, deposited in the bank 
for safe keeping. The pay-rolls now in the 
possession of his family show the vast amount 
of labor that must have been expended in set- 
tling these accounts. Yet it was cheerfully 
done, with no other reward than the gratitude 
of the parties and the '' well done " of his own 
heart. The itemi of correspondence was a se- 
vere tax upon his time and strength. 

Many made him their scribe, others brought 
letters to be read to them, while many soldiers 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 141 

appointed him their counselor, clerk, and gen- 
eral agent. If any one wanted a friend to assist 
them, Mr. Wilson was the one chosen. It is a 
fitting conclusion to these statements concern- 
ing his work among the soldiers, to remark that 
his services were most gratefully appreciated, 
as scores of letters from them, unfortunately 
lost, testified to their love, gratitude, and high 
regard for his counsel and assistance. 

As the years rolled on, Mr. Wilson became 
more and more interested in the general work 
of the Sabbath-school. His contact with child- 
hood in the Band of Hope, and sewing and 
evening schools, deepened his interest in the 
work among the young. Child-life charmed 
him and in turn he charmed it. It is safe to 
say that few men have gained such power over 
children as he possessed. Whether in public 
speech or private conversation, it mattered not ; 
he held them entranced by his artlessness and 
peculiar magnetism. The spell that bound 
them to him was more than childish curiosity ; 
it was faith, a certain indefinable instinct that 
they could trust him fully. Hence they clung 
to him with somewhat of filial pride. Often- 
times, as he passed through the streets of Law- 



142 A Life that Speaketh. 

rence, flocks of children would surround him, 
some running on before to herald his coming, 
and gather an escort worthy of the occasion. 
These were peaceful ovations, but they were 
such as kings might truly covet. This aptitude 
in interesting children was duly appreciated by 
the public. Calls multiplied from every quarter 
for his services. During the latter years of his 
work in Lawrence he was overburdened with 
pressing invitations and appeals for addresses 
at conventions, concerts, and camp-meetings. 
On these occasions he not only delighted the 
little folks with his pathos and lively presenta- 
tion of spiritual things, but he never failed to 
charm the most cultivated with his simple and 
pleasing manners and effective speech. 

For thirteen years the work I have outlined 
was carried on his heart. As it grew and ex- 
panded around him, he grew and expanded in 
character and devotion to it. It is not strange 
that such a man should be highly valued beyond 
the limits of his own city. It is not strange 
that his services should be coveted. The suc- 
cessful workers in any field are few compared 
with the demand. Candidates for every position 
abound, but tried workmen are scarce. The 



Mission Work in Lawrence, 143 

loudest clamor of the age is for first-class men. 
Novices are at a discount, skilled laborers at 
a premium. Mr. Wilson was a skilled laborer 
in the field of benevolent activities, and hence 
Lawrence was speedily in competition with 
other cities for his services. Boston was first 
on the list. Earnest appeals were made to him 
to engage in the evangelization of the masses 
in the commercial center of New England. 
But the apple was not yet ripe. The hour had 
not come for such ministry, and he declined. 
Lynn was the next competitor. Some of her 
public-spirited capitalists and citizens were not 
slow to perceive and covet his peculiar gifts and 
experience, and they sought to secure them for 
their own city. Financial inducements were 
offered him, and every appeal made calculated 
to affect favorably his decision ; but the good 
people of Lawrence clung to him so tenaciously, 
and opposed his departure so mightily with 
the memories of their generosity and love, that 
he yielded to their protestations, and decided 
to remain in the familiar scenes where he stood 
loved and honored as nowhere else. 

But no sooner had this decision been made 
than a new appeal came from the Church, a 



144 



A Life that Speaketh. 



summons startling and irresistible. It came 
like the call of God. 

Before entering upon this subject, however, 
it may not be amiss to turn aside from the path 
of events and contemplate his home-life, and 
the deeper and more private experiences of his 
heart. We long to know the hidings of his 
power, the secret forces that underlie and ani- 
mate the labors we have been depicting. 



Home-Life, 145 



CHAPTER VII. 

HOME-LIFE. 

IN the concluding prayer offered at the fu- 
neral services by Rev. C. E. Fisher, among 
other subjects for thanksgiving in the life of 
Mr. Wilson he mentioned one especially to 
which no reference has hitherto been made in 
these pages ; he thanked God for the model 
home. 

It is sometimes the case with busy men, 
whose lives are devoted to public interests, that 
in the multiplicity of their public cares the 
home-Hfe languishes. They live so much for 
society that they forget their own. This ac- 
cusation has especially been brought against 
mothers who have entered heartily into reform- 
atory movements, and constitutes one of the 
most powerful objections against women's en- 
tering the arena of public life. The great 
movements of society must not be slighted, 
they need advocates and self-denying laborers ; 

but when such associations are built up at the 
10 



146 A Life that Speaketh. 

expense of home-duties, they become of doubt- 
ful value. It may be safely said that this result 
is not necessary, especially while these public 
efforts are carried on chiefly by men. The 
home-life of Mr. Wilson proves it. Few per- 
sons were more absorbed in social interests 
than he, and yet in the midst of all these per- 
plexing and pressing duties he was the head 
of a home that had few superiors. We will 
not give him all the glory. There stood one 
by his side, every whit his peer, who must 
receive her full share of our approbation, and 
yet it is no disparagement to her to say, that 
his presence was essential to fashion such a 
sanctuary. 

As previously stated, Mr. Wilson was mar- 
ried April 27, 1853, to Miss Emily O. Fisk. 
He had purchased a small, but pleasant, cottage 
on Garden-street, furnished it neatly but plain- 
ly, and thither he brought his bride and made 
a dwelling-place. They were congenial spirits. 
He had reason to value her intellect and heart. 
He did both with all the strength of his loving 
nature. 

Birthdays were sacredly observed in the 
family. On one of these he writes : — 



Home-Life, 147 

" To MY Wife Emily. 

" Thy joy, my joy, 

Thy sorrow, mine ; 
Thy need, my need, 

My plenty, thine. 

" G. P. W." 

It is needless to say that the atmosphere of 
their home was the immediate product of their 
mutual love and devotion. Home without this 
union of hearts is a place where people stay, 
not where they live. But what gave them this 
union } A heavenly aspiration, a common bond 
of love for a common Saviour. The reason why 
so many marriages are not congenial is because 
the parties lack a centralizing and unifying af- 
fection — a love worthy of them, as creatures of 
Almighty God. '* Be ye not unequally yoked 
together with unbelievers" is an apostolic in- 
junction as rational as any of Heaven's immuta- 
ble principles. How can there be concord with- 
out unity of purpose and affection .'* There is no 
solution to the great problem of married misery 
but in the divine law of love to God. All other 
remedies are powerless to remove the root of 
bitterness. Heaven forbid that we should rest 
satisfied with superficial theories, when we 
ought to be content with nothing less than 



148 A Life that Speaketh. 

the radicalism of Jesus : '' Ye must be born 
again ! " 

To my mind, the most striking feature in 
Mr. Wilson's home was restftdness. I never 
entered it without feeling the blessed influence 
of its sweet repose. That quality was induced 
therein by the parental spirit. It was the rest- 
ful faith of these twin Christian hearts that 
threw that indefinable spell over the home- 
circle. It was not the quiet of leisure. Hearts 
and hands were never more busy than theirs. 
The door-bell never rusted for want of calls for 
business. It was simply a precious soul-rest in 
the midst of the most bustling activity ; the 
placidity of Jesus on the raging sea of Galilee, 
or along the dusty highways of Judea, as he was 
thronged with the multitudes, wearying him 
with their ceaseless cry for help. 

God gave them three children — George, 
Frank, and Annie. There is no higher test of 
character than the culture of children, espe- 
cially those of our ow^n blood. Love may ruin 
as well as save. Affection not unfrequently 
disturbs the action of the understanding. It 
requires wisdom to manage ourselves, as well 
as to manage our children. And may we not 



Home- Life, 149 

truly say the highest test of wisdom is the 
management of ourselves — " He that ruleth 
himself is better than he that taketh a city/* 
He who cannot rule himself cannot rule 
others. 

Mr. Wilson did not forget the importance of 
home culture. He made ample provision for 
it. While his family expenditures were rigidly 
economical, there was one exception : he never 
hesitated to lavish money for the minds and 
hearts of his children. 

Every provision was made to make home 
pleasant and attractive. Pictures, toys, illu- 
minated texts and mottoes, pictorial papers of 
an elevating and religious tone, literature of all 
varieties, musical instruments, abounded in it. 
Was he not wise in all this t The want of the 
age is not so much money, as the art of spend- 
ing it. How many homes are destitute of val- 
uable literature and papers suited to fashion 
the heart of childhood, while its grown-up in- 
habitants are squandering their resources in 
making a display of showy garments and men- 
tal insipidity along the sidewalks. This is sad 
economy. 

The religious order of the household was 



150; A Life that Speaketh. 

beautiful. The family worship was the cul- 
minating period of joy. Every guest will tes- 
tify to the truthfulness of this remark. This 
was made so by the perfect system attending 
it. Mr. Wilson was ardently attached to the 
Berean Sunday-school series, now enlarged into 
the International. He carried it into the family 
worship. All committed the topic for the fol- 
lowing Sabbath — the Golden Text, the Outline 
— observed the daily readings, and faithfully 
studied the lesson. It was his custom to ques- 
tion the children on its principles, and faithfully 
enforce its precepts. Every Sabbath evening 
the commandments were repeated, and, if time 
permitted, other exercises of a like nature were 
enjoyed. His prayers were the genial outpour- 
ings of a trustful heart, seeking blessings on 
every member of the circle, often by name, yet 
in such a devotional and appropriate way as not 
to give offense to a sensitive nature. 

The religious impressions of such hours as 
these must be lasting. No child can grow up 
in such an atmosphere without having the 
deepest feelings of the heart stirred. Such 
occasions are the anchorage grounds of the 
soul's faith. How many in after life are saved 



Home-Life, 151 

from drifting on the rocks of vice and skepti- 
cism by the invisible influences that link such 
hours with the heart-life ! 

And yet all this implies something else. 
This system cannot be carried out without 
parental authority — a lawless family will never 
submit to it Furthermore, that discipline 
must be of a peculiar kind. It must not be 
arbitrary and puritanic. The iron links of law, 
in themselves rough and irritating, must be 
encased in such manifested tenderness and love 
as to make them soft and smooth. This can 
only be effected by commencing with the babe, 
and holding it firmly in the grasp of gentle but 
unyielding authority through all its earlier 
childhood. 

Mr. Wilson had no sympathy with home law- 
lessness. His tones were genial, but firm ; and 
his discipline exact, though not excessive. He 
began it early, so that the appearance of author- 
ity might be dispensed with by the substitution 
of fixed habit. Filial trust soon made obedi- 
ence easy. Then sprang up mutual confidence 
and a genial companionship, that made home 
the dearest spot on earth. 

Owing to the nature of his employment he 



152 A Life that Speaketh. 

was not often absent from his family. From 
this fact few letters were exchanged among its 
members. One or two will serve our purpose 
as well as a multitude, for a father's soul may be 
disclosed in a few lines as easily as in many. 

Writing to George in 1861, who was visiting 
his relatives, he throws in these words at the 
close : " Study hard, play hard, work hard, eat 
hard, and obey grandmother." Laconic advice, 
but as wise as it is intense. 

A letter to Frank reveals his genial way of 
giving instruction, as well as the character of 
the lessons taught. It was written on Frank's 
birthday : — 

"Nashua, August 2%, 1872. 

" My own Dear Frank : I am thinking of 
you this noon and longing to be with you, but 
am denied the privilege. I hope you are hav- 
ing a happy anniversary to-day. Your father 
writes in the spirit of the occasion, although so 
far away. 

" May God bless my dear boy, and guide him 
by his Spirit and word, that he may be a useful 
and, in the best sense of the word, a successful 
man ! 

^* I cannot refrain from telling you that my 



Home 'Life. 153 

heart has been made very happy by the good 
accounts I have received of your helpfulness, 
and desire to do duty and make others happy. 
This is the true secret of happiness, to do some- 
thing from a right motive to bless others. May 
you always live thus, my son ! 

" Fifteen years old to-day, almost a man in 
stature and strength. I look over these fifteen 
years, and think how much of happiness and priv- 
ilege you have enjoyed, and that after a little 
time you will have to begin in earnest your life- 
v/ork. You will never know the care and prayer 
and anxiety that mother and father have had for 
you. We shall be amply repaid if we see in 
you a disposition to live a true manly Christian 
life. 

" Let us live for both worlds, my dear Frank. 
This is our short home. The long home will 
be ours soon. Shall it be with Jesus and good 
people in the enjoyments of heaven ? May God 
grant it ! Continue to be true to your convic- 
tions of duty, my child. Dare to do right, what- 
ever others may do or say. Love your mother, 
cherish her as the best friend you will ever have 
on earth. Few are blest with such a mother. 
"' From your loving father." 



154 A Life that Speaketh. 

Such were the sentiments he instilled into 
the minds of his children. He would have them 
successful, but only in the highest sense of real 
nobility. Every day they saw an exemplifica- 
tion of his own teachings ; precept and exam- 
ple welded together in himself. Surely, if the 
young can be aided at all to gain a just esti- 
mate of the real value of things, this.is the way. 
It must be a strange perversion of privilege 
if children thus reared should not so conduct 
themselves in after life as to bring forth appro- 
priate fruit. 

Mr. Wilson was conscientiously benevolent. 
We say conscientiously, to distinguish it jfrom 
that hap-hazard style of giving that knows no 
law but the promptings of blind impulse. He 
loved to give, but according to principle, that his 
conscience might be educated in the act, as well 
as his heart. One of his favorite themes in the 
pulpit was " Systematic Benevolence." He 
practiced what he preached. 

Immediately after commencing housekeep- 
ing he opened an account with his Maker. 
His reasons for so doing are stated in a 
book in which he kept his record of benevo- 
lences : — 



Home -Life. 155 

"Lawrence, May 17, 1852. 

*' Believing it necessary, if I would secure 
God's blessing, to have some definite plan of 
giving alms, after much prayer and thought, I 
do hereby pledge myself from this date to give 
one tenth of all my income or earnings to ob- 
jects of benevolence, and will in this book keep 
faithful record of the same, and the manner in 
which my gifts are bestowed. 

*' I pray God I may do some good with my 
money as well as by my prayers ! 

*' George Pickering Wilson." 

At the close of the year 1855 he makes this 
statement :— - 

'' Have neglected to keep an account of money 
given for charitable purposes the last year, but 
have given to the full extent of my ability, and 
many times have suffered inconvenience from 
doing so. But I have done it cheerfully, as I 
hope to receive. God has blessed me the past 
year with continued health, and I have had con- 
stant employment. 

" With His assisting grace I will endeavor 
the next year to keep a faithful record of my 
charities." 



156 A Life that Speaketh. 

On the page opening the new year is this 
pledge : — 

"Every Saturday night we will lay by one 
sixth part of our earnings or income for the 
week, to be devoted to benevolent purposes. 
Beheving systematic benevolence to be taught 
in God's holy word, we will endeavor faithfully 
to perform this part of our Christian duty." 

This was signed by himself and wife, as are 
all subsequent covenants with God of a like 
nature. 

At the close of this year appears another 
record, as follows : — 

" With our present income and expenses, we 
are fearful we cannot for the coming year de- 
vote one sixth of our income to the Lord. 
All we have and are, temporally, spiritually, 
body, soul, and property, we this day conse- 
crate anew to the Lord, and will devote one 
tenth of our income to benevolent purposes, 
and more if we can consistently with our 
necessary expenses." 

i860 ends with the following statement : — 

"Another year closes, and we are spared, pre- 
served, blessed ! Surely goodness and mercy 
have followed us. O may we dwell in the house 



Home 'Life, 157 

of the Lord forever ! No evil has befallen us ; 
no plague come nigh our dwelling. We have 
found it good to commit our way unto the Lord, 
to trust in him. And he has brought it to pass. 
We would be his forever. Amen. 

1862 opens with the following song of glad- 
ness :— 

" For the first time for many years we have a 
small balance on hand for the next year. Praised 
be God for continued prosperity and happiness ! 
In basket and store we have been abundantly 
blessed. We have had more income than ever 
before, for which we are to give an account to 
God. Another year, with God's help, we will 
consecrate one tenth of all our income to the 
Lord." 

1865 commences with a review of the plan, 
and some reflections on the subject of system- 
atic benevolence : — 

" After thirteen years* trial, we are firmly con- 
vinced that the plan of Systematic Benevolence is 
both right and scriptural, and that God's blessing 
always attends it. Deeply grateful to God for 
the great blessings of health and employment, 
for home and dear children, we would again 
consecrate soul, body, time, property, all we 



158 A Life that Speaketh. 

have, and are, or hope to be, to the service of 
our heavenly Father. We will in this book keep 
a faithful record of one tenth of all our income, 
which we now devote to the Lord. 

" Where little is given, little is required. 

" Where much is given, much is required." 

Let it be understood that this was not done 
without sacrifice. Rigid economy was neces- 
sary to fulfill these pledges. The home of 
Mr. Wilson was not distinguished for its luxuri- 
ous furniture. The personal adornments were 
apostolic, not worldly. The soul of neatness 
and taste was displayed every-where, but sim- 
plicity, like the vail of a bride, was thrown over 
all the life. 

His policy is worthy of commendation. We 
are not so sure that the one-tenth principle is a 
Christian duty. He was not sure himself, as 
shown by his effort to do more. There should 
be some settled plan of giving to the Lord 
adopted by every person, and carefully instilled 
into the conscience of childhood, but we doubt 
the propriety of fixing the limit at one tenth. 
That may serve as an average standard, like a 
thermometric zero, but circumstances should 
vary the percentage of the benefactions. It 



Home 'Life, 159 

would be injurious for multitudes to stop at that 
limit ; it would not be just for a few to reach it. 
For Mr. Wilson, with his income, it may have 
been just right. He tried more ; he failed to 
accomplish his heart's desire. But the spirit of 
the man teaches us a lesson. 

O when will the Christian Church have a 
highly instructed conscience and heart in the 
use of money ! All professions of holiness with- 
out it are the hollow sounds of self-deception. 
Our benevolent enterprises will always be in 
financial jeopardy, in peril of temporary dis- 
aster, unless we can secure the most positive 
convictions of personal responsibility in the use 
of gold. On the other hand, the best fund the 
Church can have is a people with an intelligent 
conviction of their duties to God in the matter 
of benevolence. We will trust God's people to 
any extent, if they see and feel aright on this 
question. We need no incorporated funds for 
coming generations. Such accumulations of 
property, except as endowments of institutions 
of learning, have never failed to curse the cause 
they were intended to promote. The best fund 
a Church can possibly possess is a warm heart, 
an enlightened conscience, and a spirit of sacri- 



i6o A Life that Speaketh. 

fice. Let us have such homes and such hearts 
as we have found in that snug Httle cottage on 
Garden-street, and God's treasury will never be 
empty, or his cause languish for want of funds 
to press the battle forward. 



Life Maxims, i6i 



CHAPTER VIIL 

LIFE MAXIMS. 

CHERISHED quotations are very accurate 
gauges of a man's character. They show 
the bent of the soul, and the incUnation of the 
ideal nature. Mr. Wilson was very fond of 
poetic gems. He culled them from books and 
pat)ers, as florists gather flowers from the gar- 
den. It was his custom to write the finest 
sentiments he read in the front and rear pages 
of his Diaries, and, as he traveled about on his 
deeds of charity, commit them to memory. 
Those quotations were usually selected that 
expressed his most cherished purposes in life. 
They are, therefore, the man writing down his 
inmost soul in the gifted language of the mas- 
ters of literature. He practiced what they 
penned. We leave the reader to judge which 
was the grander, the writing or the doing. We 
give some of these as indicating his secret 

aspirations : — 
11 



1 62 A Life that Speaketh. 

Taken from the fly-leaf of an old Diary. 
" Not myself, but the truth that in life I have spoken ; 

2S or myself, but the seed that lq life I have sontu, 
Shall pass on to ages ; all about me forgotten 

Save the trath I have spoken* the things I have done." 

All his old Diaries have inscribed on them as 
the consecrating sentiment : " Not slothful in 
business ; fervent in spirit ; ser\'ing the Lord." 

How sweetly do these quotations harmonize 
with his whole life. 

" I hve— 

'' ' For the cause that lacks assistance. 
For the wrong that needs resistance, 
For the future in the distance, 
And the good that I can do.' " 

" Let thy alms go before and keep heaven's gate 
Open for thee, or both may come too late." 

"Whatsoever ye would that men should do 
to you, do ye even so to them." 

From Diary of 1867: — '"'There is but one 
rare and precious coin with which you can pur- 
chase the costly treasure of a child*s heart ; and 
the coin bears this superscription — Love!' 

" Lost for want of a word — a word that I might have spoken ; 
Who knows what eyes are dim — ^what hearts are aching and 

broken ? 
Go scatter beside all waters, nor sicken at hope deferred ; 
Let never a soul by thy dumbness be lost for want of a word.** 



Life Maxims, 163 

** The holy supper is kept indeed, 

In whatso we share with another's need. 

Not that which we give, but what we share, 

For the gift without the giver is bare. 

Who bestows himself, with his alms feeds three : 

Himself, his hungry neighbor, and me." 

From Diary of 1868 : — 

" Trust in God and do the right. 
So do I gather strength and hope anew. 

Full well I know thy patient love perceives, 
Not what I did, but what I strove to do ; 
And though the full ripe ears be sadly few, 

Thou wilt accept my sheaves." 

From Diary of 1869 : — 

" I begin to see that religion consists not so 
much in joyful feelings, as in constant exercise 
of devotedness to God, and in laying ourselves 
out for the good of others." 

" Christian, if you would be free 
From the world's corroding care, 

In the haunts of misery learn 
How great your comforts are. 

While you trust in Jesus' blood, 

Taste the sweets of doing goodj* 

From Diary of 1870 : — 
" The prayers of health are most likely to be 
acceptable. Sickness may choke our devotion, 



164 A Life that Speaketh. 

and we are accepted rather by our life than by 
our death," 

" Every man's life-work is what its discipline 
amounts to. We are put into this world to be 
trained. 

" It is something a man can have, even when 
his hands are crossed in his coffin. 

" How a man feels toward God and toward 
his fellow-men, is the question which life's dis- 
cipline decides : What his influences are ; what 
his principles ; what his rules of action." 

From Diary of 187 1 : — 

** I want to be little, more weak, and more mild ; 
More like my blest Master, and more like a child ; 
More watchful, more prayerful, more lowly in mind ; 
More thoughtful, more gentle, more humble and kind." 

*' Show us, Lord, where we may labor ; 

Lead us thither by thy hand ; 
And may we some friend, some neighbor, 

Safely guide to Canaan's land." 

" I am a scholar — 
The great Lord of love and life my tutor is, 
Who from above all who seek learning to his school invites." 

From Diary of 1872 : — 

" The thing surpasses all my thought, 

But faithful is my Lord ; 
Through unbelief I stagger not, 

For God hath spoke the word. 



Life Maxims, 165 

** Faith, mighty faith, the promise sees, 

And looks to that alone ; 
Laughs at impossibilities, 

And cries, It shall be done." 

'* That I spent, that I had; 
That I gave, that I have ; 
That I left, that I lost." 

*' If so poor a worm as I 

May to thy great glory live, 
All my actions sanctify. 

All my words and thought receive ; 
Claim me for thy service, claim 
All I have, and all I am. 

'* Take my soul and body's powers, 
Take my memory, mind, and will : 

All my goods, and all my hours, 
All I ktiow, and all I feel ; 

All I think, or speak, or do : 

Take my heart, but make it new." 

" If you would not be a swearer, don't begin ; 
In the first low uttered oath lies the sin." 

" That man may breathe, but never lives, 
Who much receives, but nothing gives ; 
Whom none can love, whom none can thank, 
Creation's blot, creation's blank." 

" Make us of one heart and mind, 
Courteous, pitiful, and kind ; 
Lowly, meek, in thought and word, 
Altogether like our Lord." 



1 66 A Life that Speaketh. 

" Hushing every muttered murmur, 
Let your fortitude the firmer 

Gird your soul with strength ; 
While, no treason near her lurking, 
Patience, in her perfect working, " 

Shall be queen at length." 

** That best portion of a good man's life. 
His little nameless, unremembered acts 
Of kindness and of love." 

From Diary of 1873 :— 

" By the ties this vice hath riven. 

By the homes this sin hath moved, 
By the souls this curse hath driven 

Unreclaim'd to their reward ; 
By the earth which it is thinning, 

By the hell which ends its track, 
Use your influence with the sinning. 

Guide your Father's stray sheep back." 

" Direct, control, suggest this day 

All I design, or do, or say ; 

That all my powers, with all their might. 

In thy sole glory may unite." 

These were the illuminated mottoes that he 
hung in the consecrated apartments of his 
soul, and read over and over in the midst 
of his abundant labors. How they refreshed 
and inspired his nobler being none but he and 
God can tell. They must have been like angel 
voices cheering him on to duty. 



Life Maxims, 167 

But there is one verse so full of meaning, so 
prophetic in its sentiment, and so touching in 
its associations, that I cannot give it without a 
word of explanation. Before Mr. Wilson re- 
moved to Boston he hesitated, through a sense 
of his own weakness and lack of professional 
training, to assume the responsibilities of such 
a work. But God and the Church seemed to 
call, and he decided to attempt the task. Just 
at that time he fell in with these lines, and at 
once made them his own. Every-where he went 
he carried them with him in memory, and re- 
peated them at every discouraging point to 
cheer him on : — 

** Few powers, no wisdom, no renown, 
Only my life can I lay down ; 
Only my heart, Lord, can I bring. 
And pray, to theeward I may lead each day 
Some fainting soul.: 
Lord, here am I." 

Prophetic words ! With a " Lord, here am 
I," he marched on without hesitation to the 
sacrifice. 

Surely, if there be any majesty in goodness, 
any glory in devotion to a noble purpose, any 
sublimity in a life of self-immolation on God's 



1 68 A Life that Speaketh. 

altar for man's salvation, we have it here in all 
its native brilliancy. 

A newly-bound Bible in the possession of his 
family has a text in it, marked with a pencil, 
written in Mr. Wilson's well-known hand. By 
the side of this passage are these words : " My 
text." That scriptural sentiment reads as fol- 
lows : " Trust in the Lord, and do good ; so 
shalt thou dwell in the land, and verily thou 
shalt be fed." Psa. xxxvii, 3. 

Verily he overcame the world by faith ; a 
faith that fully met the demands of the apostle 
of practical morality, St. James. 

Having had some passing gUmpses at the 
private life and secret inspirations of Mr. Wil- 
son, we turn again into the path of history, and 
take up the thread of events where we left it — 
at his effectual call from Lawrence to another 
field of action. 



Mission Work in Bostofi. 169 



CHAPTER IX. 

MISSION WORK IN BOSTON. 

METHODISM had not made as rapid 
progress in Boston as in other social cen- 
ters of our country until quite recently. From 
the time when Jesse Lee was denied an open 
door in the metropolis of New England, either 
for worship or hospitality, that branch of the 
Christian Church which he sought to plant has 
had to contend with special difficulties. But 
in spite of all these obstacles, Methodism has 
made a slow though steady growth. During the 
last decade new movements were inaugurated 
for its expansion. A city missionary was ap- 
pointed for the purpose of cultivating the neg- 
lected districts. This was the little acorn from 
which has grown a vigorous tree. In 1869 ^^^^ 
"Boston Sunday-School and Missionary So- 
ciety" was chartered, and a vigorous worker 
appointed to supervise it. This association was 
subsequently incorporated under the name of 
the '* Boston Missionary and Church Extension 



I/O A Life that Speaketh. 

Society." Its object as set forth in its con- 
stitution, is, "To carry the means of grace to 
the neglected and destitute portions of our 
population, by establishing and aiding Meth- 
odist Episcopal Churches, and by all other 
appropriate methods for advancing the cause of 
Christ." 

The Society has already justified its exist- 
ence by what it has accomplished. During the 
year 1873 "it has had under consideration 
twenty-two Church enterprises in various stages 
of development, from the mission visits from 
house to house to gather a Sunday-school, to 
the congregation in some pleasant Church about 
to assume its own responsibilities and make a 
home." 

Such a society, judiciously managed, cannot 
fail to extend the Redeemer's kingdom in the 
" regions beyond," and carry the Gospel where 
Jesus himself would take it were he here among 
men. May it receive the hearty support it 
deserves ! 

In 1 87 1 the missionary employed resigned, 
and the Executive Board was called upon to 
choose a successor. When the subject came 
up but one name seemed to meet the necessi^ 



Mission Work in Boston. 171 

ties of the occasion — George P. Wilson. With 
the greatest unanimity he was selected to be 
the standard-bearer of the Society, and a strong 
committee was appointed to secure his consent 
and services. This was the call before referred 
to — this the startling summons to a new and 
untried field of labor. Some years before the 
same mission had sought his services, but his 
hour had not then come. He had not felt the 
call as of God, and had declined. But now an 
entire change had transpired in his convictions 
of duty. 

This call came to him as from Heaven. Most 
devoutly he prayed to be divinely directed. He 
sought only to know the pleasure of his Master. 
There were many influences binding him, like 
fetters of steel, to his old home. His friend- 
ships were intimate and precious ; his work 
thoroughly organized and completely in hand. 
But there were family considerations that 
prompted him to accept. In addition to these, 
the work to which he was called he appreciated 
more than all others. He firmly believed the 
Gospel to be the only remedy for human 
wretchedness. While poverty might be allevi- 
ated for a time by the distribution of alms, he 



1/2 A Life that Speaketh. 

felt there was no hope of a permanent relief but 
in the religion of Jesus. As he sometimes 
expressed it, '' It is better to build men up from 
within, than to attempt to save them by remov- 
ing the natural consequences of sin." This had 
been his policy in his charitable work. While 
he gave money and clothing to the needy, he 
had always sought to give them something bet- 
ter than gold — he would give them Christ. 
And now a broad field was opened to him, full 
of gracious opportunities. His soul kindled 
before the thought of preaching the Gospel to 
the poor, of gathering in the neglected classes, 
organizing them into religious centers, and 
attaching the homeless to the Church of his 
choice. His sanctified ambition reveled in the 
spiritual possibilities of such a field ; the work 
seeming to him but a copy of his Saviour's 
ministry. It is not strange, therefore, that the 
change commended itself to his judgment, and 
that he decided in the affirmative. After due de- 
lay, and careful inquiry into the nature of the work 
and the demands upon him, he consented to take 
the position. His Diary contains this item : — 

" Washmgtofis Birthday. — At four P. M. the 
Board of Advice met, and my resignation as 



Mission Work in Boston, 173 

City Missionary was accepted. This step has 
not been taken without much thought and 
prayer. An open door presents itself for use- 
fulness and hard work in Boston. My dear 
wife is in poor health, caused by devotion to 
the mission work, and she must and shall be 
relieved. We have many dear friends in Law- 
rence, and it will be exceedingly hard to leave, 
but it seems to be right." 

His labors in Lawrence closed March 24, 
1872. A vast audience gathered in the City 
Hall to listen to his final report and parting 
words. His farewell address we copy, as par- 
tially reported, from a city paper :; — 

" Thirteen years ago last Saturday he com- 
menced his labors as City Missionary, and he 
thanked God for the privilege of spending thir- 
teen years of his young manhood in so blessed 
a service. He accepted the office when it was 
tendered to him gratefully, and in accordance 
with his own earnest convictions that he could 
accomplish some good. In looking back upon 
the work performed, he said he would give a few 
figures showing how much the mission had 
accomplished during its existence. He had 
made eighteen thousand eight hundred and 



1/4 A Life that Speaketh. 

sixty-seven visits ; attended four hundred and 
ninety-four funerals ; relieved two thousand five 
hundred families and nine hundred and seventy- 
one strangers ; there had been seven thousand 
three hundred and forty-nine garments given to 
those who needed them ; eight thousand two 
hundred and fourteen yards of cloth distributed ; 
he had attended one hundred and seventy-four 
weddings ; had expended fourteen thousand seven 
hundred and thirty-nine dollars from the relief 
fund, and disbursed from the Pemberton Relief 
Fund ten thousand dollars. The result attained in 
thirteen years' labor," he said, " had been accom- 
plished by systematizing the work in the begin- 
ning, and aiming to reach the poor, the hungry, 
the sick, the imprisoned, and the stranger. The 
by-laws of the mission have been, 'Inasmuch 
as ye have done it unto one of the least of these 
my brethren, ye have done it unto me.* The 
mission has been largely successful in suppress- 
ing street begging by taking away the necessity 
for it. It has assisted in establishing and main- 
taining an enlightened, careful, and humane 
policy toward the poor of all classes. It has 
aided in promoting the growth and wealth 
of this city, in rescuing from poverty, and 



Mission Work in Boston, 175 

contributing to the laboring element those who 
must have sank but for the timely assistance 
which brought them through their trials, restor- 
ing them to health, and making them useful 
members of society. 

"The strong arms and the skillful hands of our 
working people are our capital and wealth, and 
it has aimed to promote their welfare, standing 
by them in the hours of trial which visit every 
condition of human life. It has also been a 
watch against deceit ; and while the poor have 
been benefited, the wealthy and generous have 
been safe from imposition. The office of the 
City Missionary has ever been the natural cen- 
ter of operations whenever any great crisis or 
calamity has occurred ; and Mr. Wilson alluded 
to the Pemberton mill accident and the Rebel- 
lion, when the mission became such a necessity, 
and was made so useful to the interests of the 
people. It has been a bond of union to the 
Churches, uniting them on the broad platform 
of the golden rule and the teachings of Christ. 
It has been successful in causing Christians to 
forget denominational differences, throwing down 
the barriers of creed, or bringing them so low that 
they could leap over them for aggressive work. 



1/6 A Life that Speaketh. 

forgetting they were Episcopalians, Baptists, 
Methodists, etc., in their desire to follow the 
example of Christ in their treatment of his 
brethren. It has also been instrumental in 
accomplishing a great educational work, having 
established a free evening school, a sewing 
school, a Band of Hope, thereby promoting 
temperance and accomplishing much good. It 
has, by the personal work of the missionary 
among the intemperate, redeemed many from 
vice ; while it has taken hold of the young gen- 
eration, instilled into them temperance prin- 
ciples, and guarded them in some measure 
against the temptations incident to youth. 
During its existence it has never turned away 
a needy and deserving person for want of funds ; 
and only in one single instance has the treasury 
been empty. The people have been generous 
in their contributions to its support, and often 
it presumed on their good will. In speaking 
his parting words, he said he could not help 
alluding to the silent partner in his labors — his 
wife. Her devotion to the cause of tfie poor 
had been great and unceasing. He had not 
alone been City Missionary. She had ever as- 
sisted and encouraged him in his labor. But 



Mission Work in Boston, 177 

the constant wear and tear connected with the 
duties had undermined her health, and this was 
the principal reason for his leaving the mission. 
He might have remained many years longer in 
the discharge of these duties, in which he took 
so much pleasure, but he felt that he could not 
endanger the life of one who had been so con- 
stant and unremitting in her care for the poor 
and the suffering — who had been an equal 
though silent partner with him in all the labors 
connected with the mission. 

" ' I leave the work,' he said, * with a conscience 
void of offense toward God and man. I have 
coveted no man's silver or gold ; I have had 
neither poverty nor riches, but have ever had 
food enough to eat, and have always been 
blessed with a good appetite and a clear con- 
science. I have adopted from choice the homes 
of the poor for my visiting places instead of the 
comfortable homes and cheerful firesides to 
which I have been so often invited. I believe 
this to be a Christ-like work. My poor, my 
children, my prisoners, are words of the deepest 
significance to me, penetrating to the inner- 
most recesses of my soul.' 

** At this point Mr. Wilson became very much 
12 



1/8 A Life that Speaketh. 

affected ; his voice was choked with emotion ; it 
was impossible to proceed ; and with a few 
words commending his successor to their love, 
he sat down, amid the sobbings and grief of 
an afflicted audience. How tenderly touching 
these closing words ! Every home was freely 
open to this noble workman ; but he had no 
time to keep company with the rich, he was 
too much interested in doing good to the poor. 
What a lesson to us all ! What a precious sug- 
gestion to every Christian pastor ! The jeal- 
ousies that sometimes exist in Churches be- 
tween classes and social gradations are not 
always produced without injudicious provoca- 
tions. It should be the aim of every minister 
to be impartial in his visitations, and if he err 
at all, err on the side of the friendless and for- 
gotten ones/' 

Hitherto Mr. Wilson had held only the rela- 
tion of local preacher in the Church. He had 
passed satisfactory examinations, and been or- 
dained local deacon and elder, but had not been 
connected with the traveling ministry. It was 
deemed best, by wise counselors, that he should 
now connect himself with that ministry by join- 
ing the New England Conference of the M. E. 



Mission Work in Boston, 179 

Church. But this necessitated an examination 
before the Conference Committee. When the 
Committee met, Mr. Wilson was unavoidably de- 
tained at home by business of his mission, which 
required settlement before his departure ; but 
such was the confidence and esteem of the min- 
isters in his ability, and honesty of purpose to 
fulfill every duty imposed upon him, that they 
voted unanimously to waive the examination, and 
receive him without the legal formalities. This 
course is unusual ; but the man was known, and 
his brethren felt no hesitation in showing him 
this mark of their respect and confidence. 

In undertaking this Boston work, he was at 
times much oppressed with a sense of personal 
unworthiness and lack of professional training. 
This was not mock modesty, that craves the 
stimulus of flattery, but a feeling of personal 
insufficiency, having its origin in self-deprecia- 
tion, and a high estimate of learning and rank. 
He felt little and weak side by side with the 
men with whom he would be brought into com- 
parison. In these hours of depression he found 
a helper in his devoted wife. It is but justice 
to her to insert just here a letter to her hus- 
band concerning these fears : — 



i8o A Life that Speaketh. 

"... Now, George, please remember what Sur- 
geon-General D said to you : ' Go to Boston 

with the determination to be the same humble, 
sincere Christian man you have always been, and 
don't let Boston students or theologians scare 
you out of your own good common sense.' The 
Board has not. called you to teach or preach 
theology, but to go out after men, after souls, 
after children, that great scholars and theolo- 
gians fail to reach. You have the theology 
of ' love ; ' the religion of hard, persevering, 
patient labor for Christ. You have an experi- 
ence among men that no school can give — a 
God-given power to reach men's hearts that 
few possess. Go, my dear husband, with your 
eye single to Christ, and Boston ministers and 
students will cease to be an obstacle. I shall 
be dreadfully disappointed in you if you show 
the white feather, when you know you are 
called to a place which none of them, with all 
their learning, are adapted to fill. For my part 
I have no fears as long as you are yourself^ and 
go in the name of Christ." 

A few days later another epistle followed 
containing these words : — 

"... I thought of you Thursday. I am 



Mission Work in Boston. i8i 

sure, George, you have had your seven years* 
training, not in these schools, perhaps, but in 
God's school, among men and things as they 
really are ; and your experience, if you do your 
best to make your sermons plain, practical, and 
personal, is worth more to you, and will be the 
means of doing more good, than a store of dead 
languages can ever do. It is every person's 
duty to inform themselves as well as they can ; 
but God's great work for his ministers is to win 
souls; and one living, earnest, faithful man will do 
more for his fellow-men than a dozen Greek and 
Latin scholars without earnestness and labor. 
You have no need to feel sad. You ought to 
rejoice that God has granted you so much suc- 
cess, and blessed your labors so abundantly. Go 
on, my husband, and no one may dare to say 
that you are not in the path of duty, because you 
have God's seal. God honors and blesses you, 
and your five talents are fast becoming ten." 

These are brave words. They give us a 
glimpse behind the scenes, and reveal a source 
of power that must be felt to be appreciated. 
Next to the power of the Divine Presence is 
the inspiration of a true wife. Mr. Wilson was 
not alone in his life-work. He only appeared 



1 82 A Life that Speaketh. 

.upon the stage; but close at hand, though invis- 
ible to the audience, was a well-known form, 
cheering him in the part he acted. These 
precious words must have come to his hesi- 
tating heart with somewhat of the power of that 
laconic message sent to a noted Boston orator 
by his wife on a certain great occasion, " Don't 
shilly-shally to-day, Wendell/' 

April 7, 1872, Mr. Wilson preached his first 
sermon in his new field. He entered at once 
vigorously on his mission. Eight preaching- 
places in various parts of the city awaited his 
supervision. These appointments were miles 
apart, with Sabbath services, week-day prayer 
and class-meetings, all to be supplied by his 
personal oversight. As the year rolled on other 
places were added. To meet the demands of 
this work, constantly augmenting, he enrolled 
as many of the students of the Boston Theo- 
logical Seminary as he could secure as helpers, 
and made in advance quarterly plans for each 
appointment. In case of sickness or unavoid- 
able disappointment, it fell to his lot to see the 
place supplied. This work alone involved no 
little running and anxiety. In addition to this, 
he was expected to collect the funds for the 



Mission Work in Boston, 183 

expenses of the mission, aside from his own 
salary. The magnitude of this task will be 
seen when it is stated that in his first yearly 
report he returns the sum of seventeen thou- 
sand three hundred and thirty-five dollars as the 
income of the year for these purposes. These 
moneys were secured by personal appeal, public 
meetings, and Church contributions. By force 
of circumstances, or thoughtlessness on the 
part of his friends, the collecting of these sums, 
much of which was on subscription, fell upon 
him. And now we are prepared to show, as in 
a nutshell, the first year's labor he performed. 
He found the work in somewhat of an embar- 
rassed condition. His predecessor had strug- 
gled nobly with its difficulties, but failing health 
had made it impossible to do all he had wished. 
Mr. Wilson organized it anew, and secured as 
many co-laborers as possible. After this had 
been accomplished his regular duties required, 
first, the care of seeing all these widely-scat- 
tered appointments supplied ; second, the wear- 
ing task of collecting thousands of dollars, most 
of it secured by visiting the subscribers, scat- 
tered over a great city, often disappointed in 
seeing the parties, and as often thoughtlessly 



1 84 A Life that Speaketh. 

requested to call again ; third, the monthly 
notification by letter of all the officers of the 
mission, over seventy in number, of the regular 
business meeting ; fourth, the visitation of the 
families and sick of the various appointments ; 
fifth, administration of the sacrament, Sunday- 
school addresses, prayer and class-meetings, 
and from one to three sermons on the Sabbath. 
The work he performed is simply appalling. An 
Alpine avalanche, thundering down the mountain 
side, is just as healthful as such a task as this. 
Some men would carry these burdens without 
personal injury, by letting every thing run loose 
and smiling' at the consequences, but Mr. Wil- 
son was not one of this class. He carried every 
portion of his work on his heart, calmly but 
seriously. He never fretted under his burdens, 
but he often staggered from his devotion and 
conscientious fidelity to his trusts. It was his 
life-long habit to have every thing in order, and 
ready for the morrow, before he retired to rest. 
In three months after he had entered upon 
this work, and grasped its magnitude, he felt 
his life imperiled ; yet he never faltered, never 
complained, never shrank from the sacrifice. 
Like the leader of a forlorn hope, he calmly 



Mission Work in Boston. 185 

moved on to meet his fate. His Diary tells the 
sad tale of overwork. Every few days he drops 
a reference to his extreme exhaustion. In the 
light of the present, these passing allusions to 
his weariness are exceedingly sad. As early as 
May he tells us : '^ Have felt exhausted all the 
week ; the work of the last month was alto- 
gether too much for me." " Let your moderation 
be known unto all men." " God bless this work 
and give me wisdom and strength for it." 

May 31. — (This sentence tells its own story:) 
" Am somehow exhausted." 

As the heat of August came on he sank un- 
der the load, and was com.pelled to leave the 
city for rest. But such was the nature of his 
work that with his departure it must languish. 
The whole superstructure rested on this frail 
pillar, and if its support was removed it fell. 
This fact made complete rest impossible. He 
returned as speedily as his strength would per- 
mit, having just escaped by his flight an attack 
of the dreaded typhoid. As he takes up the 
burden once more he drops this line in his 
Diary : " Thank God for the privilege of work- 
ing !" The remainder of the year afforded abun- 
dant opportunity for this kind of thankfulness. 



1 86 A Life that Speaketh. 

His last New- Year's morning found him in acts 
of devotion. ^^ Was on my knees at twelve this 
morning with a few Christian friends at Wash- 
ington Village. O Lord, take me to be thine ! 
All I have, and am, or hope to be, I unreserved- 
ly dedicate to thee. Help me, O Lord ! Have 
had a little overwork for a few days/' 

These days of toil and weariness were not 
wanting in seasons of refreshing. January 12th 
is a specimen of other successful and inspiring 
days that we meet with in his daily record. 
" Sermon and sacrament at Windsor Chapel. 
Sermon at Eggleston Square. Prayer-meeting 
in the evening. Ten forward for prayers. A 
blessed day. O my Father, give me souls, and 
no labor or sacrifice shall be too great. Help me 
to be faithful and I leave the result with thee !" 

" January 25. — This has been a week of more 
than usual pressure. Not only the care of the 
Churches, but very much else comes upon me. 
O Lord, give me grace and wisdom for all my 
need ! " 

" March 23. — A good day. Preached at Wind- 
sor in the morning. Held class-meeting for 
half an hour afterward. Walked two miles to 
dinner. Walked one and a half miles to hold a 



Mission Work in Boston, 187 

meeting in the house of a sick brother. Preached 
at three P. M. Visited sick lady. Walked one 
and a half miles to cars ; took tea at restaurant. 
Went to Harrison Square and preached. Had 
an extraordinary meeting at its close; truly a 
means of grace." 

" Sunday y April 20. — Up early. Preached at 
Windsor Chapel on Joseph. Spoke at Revere- 
street and Charlestown Neck Sunday-school. 
Preached at Mattapan ; ran a mile to get there ; 
walked one and a half miles to get back. Home 
at ten P. M. after a good day. Bless the Lord, 
O my soul ! " 

With such labors as these he closed the con- 
ference year, and repaired to Lynn to meet his 
brethren and pass his examinations. His prep- 
aration for this ordeal was made between Janu- 
ary and April, amid the pressure of other duties, 
and was pronounced most excellent. The three 
months of the new year had been the most 
busy of his whole life. The private jottings of 
each day show one thing — a perpetual strain on 
his vitality. His life was an incessant run. The 
end in view was subscriptions. Often when he 
had tracked a delinquent to his lair, he seems 
to have meet with a cold denial. And yet only 



1 88 A Life that Speaketh. 

once in his Diary he gives vent to his bitter 
disappointment, and then in the following soft- 
ened phraseology: ''Some men are very tinex- 
pectedin their honor about a subscription paper." 
That is all ; the phraseology intentionally ob- 
scure, but there is meaning in it. 

The Conference was a jubilee to him. Bating 
an address of great sweetness to the children at 
the Sunday-school anniversary, the w^eek was 
one of rest and delight. He seemed like a child 
set free from a great perplexity. During its 
progress he returned home to the anniversary 
supper of his marriage, the last of earth. This 
is his comment : — 

'' Twenty years ago to-day my dear wdfe and 
I united our hearts and hands for life. God 
never gave a man a truer helpmeet, or a more 
noble, self-sacrificing wife. May I prove worthy 
of her ! Twenty years of happiness and pros- 
perity ! The future is knowm only to God. We 
trust in him and say, ' Jehovah-jireh ! ' " 

Conference over, Mr. Wilson returned to his 
post of duty. The old story is repeated. Sud- 
denly it closes with these ominous words : — 

'' Tuesday, yu7ie ij. — Was nearly sick all day; 
did not go out." [The rest is blank.] 



Mission Work in Boston. 189 

On the 8th of June, at Windsor Chapel, he 
preached from these words : '' Be thou faithful 
unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." 
It was his last discourse. A fitting subject for 
his farewell to the pulpit. The first sentiment 
of the text had been most fully exemplified in 
his own experience, and faith sees the promise 
appended to it verified in the blessed beyond. 
A day or two before this discourse he called on 
one of the students of the seminary to secure 
his services for a few Sabbaths, and found him 
quite ill. After a few moments conversation he 
rose to leave, remarking, " My brother, there is 
rest by and by." As he reached the door he 
turned, repeated the remark, and added, "And 
we know not how near it may be to some of us." 
"The next time I saw him," says this person, 
" I drew my hand softly across his brow ; it was 
cold in death." 

These expressions of his were, no doubt, the 
presentiments of an exhausted vitality — the in- 
stinctive cry of weariness for repose. It was 
not the soul that made the suggestion ; that had 
rest, the rest of faith, of conscious reconciliation 
with the Father. It was the appeal of the body, 
overtaxed and burdened, for relief; and since 



igo A Life that Speaketh. 

it could not find it in the sphere of duty, it 
sought it in the grave. 

On whom Hes the responsibility of this wast- 
ing toil, that ends so suddenly in an unwritten 
Diary ? Nobody — every body. The groundwork 
of the difficulty lies in our modern life. This is 
an age of railroads and telegraphs, and also of 
quick departures into eternity. Life is a per- 
petual hum. Some are millionaires at thirty, 
and dead soon after. 

Vice has caught the infection and grows with 
tropical rapidity. Every species"^ of iniquity 
fairly gallops in its eagerness to people perdi- 
tion, and what can the good do but attempt the 
rescue of its victims by adopting the same pace. 
Every spiritual agency is in a hurry. Meth- 
odism especially seems to have caught the con- 
tagious spirit of haste and intensity. She was 
taught it by her founder, who fairly flew through 
England on his great mission. But if she was 
inspired with his working spirit, she soon forgot 
the calmness in which he toiled for the Master. 
Wesley's wisdom is displayed most brightly in 
conscientiously doing his best, and then retiring 
to sleep in the sweetest unconcern about con- 
sequences. These he left with the ever-sleep- 



Mission Work in Boston, 191 

less One. The Church of God needs to learn 
this lesson of calm activity. It comes only 
from the highest degree of faith. If we live 
aright, preach the truth, and keep diligently 
employed, we may rest assured that vice will 
never outstrip us and gain the world as a prize. 
This unseemly haste crushes men. Our best 
are used up when they should just begin to wield 
their weapons with the skill of veteran work- 
men. The willing ones are the first to die, 
because the load is heavy, the demands im- 
perious, and the many slow to bear their share 
of responsibility. Goaded on by circumstances, 
these heroic natures carry the burdens that 
belong to the crowd, and, staggering beneath 
the unnatural load, fall victims to the pressure 
of holy enterprises. There is no cure for this 
but a better distribution of labor. If so much 
must be done the work must be more com- 
pletely organized. The apostles have set us 
the right example. See Acts vii, 1-4. 

John Wesley fashioned a Church that cannot 
be surpassed for efficiency if its machinery be 
managed as he directed. But more and more 
its methods are neglected, and many of the re- 
sponsibiHties that belong to the laymen are 



192 A Life that Speaketh. 

heaped on the shoulders of the ministry. Some 
carry these accumulated burdens carelessly ; 
some cast them off with a smile ; while others 
take them up conscientiously as a part of the 
Christian's cross, and die under the load. And 
who is responsible ? Nobody in particular ; 
every body in 2:eneral. Since these are facts, it 
well becomes us, as brethren, to watch carefully 
each other ; and shield, as far as possible, by 
sympathy and help, those free and willing 
spirits that carry without protest their own 
burdens, and as many more as a thoughtless 
brotherhood may cast upon them. 



Tke Closing Scenes, 193 



CHAPTER X. 

THE CLOSING SCENES. 

A MID the festivities of Boston, on the an- 
•^"^ niversary of her battle-day, on the slopes 
of Bunker Hill, June 17, Mr. Wilson with- 
drew from active service, and threw himself, 
weary and feverish, on a sick-bed. The dis- 
ease that had been averted the previous sum- 
mer by a timely escape into the country now 
attacked him, and for many days he lay pros- 
trate and helpless with that species of fever 
that never hesitates to assault an exhausted 
system — the typhoid. At first it was not vio- 
lent, and soon gave way before medical skill. 
His anxious brethren were rejoiced to learn 
that the danger was past, and all he needed 
was rest. 

But just at this critical period a trying task 
came upon him. The regular meeting of the 
Mission Board was close at hand, and the noti- 
fication of its members demanded attention. A 

friend volunteered to aid in this work, but the 
13 



194 A Life that Speaketh, 

care of it fell upon his own weary brain. In 
his weak condition it was no light task to su- 
pervise the preparation of seventy-five letters 
with perplexing directions. 

He lay on his sick-bed and saw the work 
completed, the packages tied up ready for the 
mail, and then, with a sigh of relief, asked to be 
dressed, that he might have rest and change. 
In a few moments his wife entered the room, 
glanced at his countenance, and marked, with 
love's quick intuitions, the deathly pallor of his 
face, the token of his dreaded relapse. His last 
endeavor to have every dvity promptly dead faith- 
fully performed had signed his death-warrant ; 
his inevitable " it must be done " cost him his 
life. He was taken immediately back to his 
room, and lay down exhausted, saying cheer- 
fully, *' The dear Lord knows best, and I do 
trust him." 

Rev. Mr. Mallalieu, the pastor of the Church 
with which his family was connected, frequent- 
ly attended his bedside during these days, 
offering his services freely whenever an oppor- 
tunity seemed to manifest itself. He took the 
records from Mr. Wilson, and urged him to 
throw off all anxiety about his mission duties. 



J 






The Closing Scenes. 195 

He promised to do so, adding most cheer- 
fully, 

*' O, do not be discouraged, 
For Jesus is your friend ! " 

Friday, July 4, the physician pronounced the 
relapse serious, and cautioned the need of per- 
fect rest. From that hour he sank rapidly. 
Medical skill and the ministries of love were 
baffled. A slight delirium prevailed, with 
occasional glimpses of reason, like sunshine 
flashing through the summer clouds. During 
these lucid intervals he dropped many expres- 
sions indicating the under currents of feeling. 
On Monday he talked calmly of a long illness, 
repeating again and again, with sweetest resig- 
nation, " The dear Lord knows best, and I do 
trust him ! " 

But his efforts to throw off the burden of his 
work was not entirely successful. ^' I must, O 
I must get well ! '' " What will become of my 
work } " " How can I give up my strength } " 
were the outcries of his heart as he reflected on 
his situation. 

In the first moments of delirium he broke 
out, " It is all right now, the work will go on ; 
I have raised seventy-five thousand dollars ; 



196 A Life that Speaketh. 

Brother S has given fifty thousand dollars ; 

all right now ! " 

Then he grew calm, and his thoughts fled 
heavenward. " Paradise opens ; I am all 
ready ; " " Jesus, blessed Jesus ! " fell again and 
again from his lips. Tuesday brought hopes 
that the worst was over. He recognized friends 
from Lawrence who kindly came -to minister to 
him, called them by name, and many times 
seemed improving. But it was all delusive. 
Wednesday morning brought increasing dis- 
tress and delirium. 

There are some days in human life that can 
never be forgotten. They are epochs in one's 
earthly pilgrimage, related to life as great bat- 
tle-fields to a nation's history. They are our 
Waterloos, Sedans, and Gettysburghs. They 
are the supreme moments of joy or agony ; the 
Gethsemanes of life, the crisis hours of expe- 
rience. Wednesday, July 9, was such a day in 
the home of Mr. Wilson. Well may his wife 
call it " that dreadful day." Dreadful, because 
helpless love was tortured through all its linger- 
ing hours by a delirious mind wrestling with the 
eventful past. 

In the early part of the day the struggle 



The Closing Scenes, 197 

with his history commenced. At first his dis- 
ordered reason contended with the difficulties 
of the work in Boston. He seemed to be stag- 
gering under an insupportable load. Weary 
with his burden, he begged to be released. 
Again and again he called for different mem- 
bers of the Mission Board to come to his relief. 
With pitiful moans, whose depth and intensity 
are only begotten by mania, he called to his 
attendants " Let these weary hands have rest." 
Turning once to his wife with a look of surprise, 
as if the very foundations of his soul were 
giving way, he asked in a low whisper full of 
inexpressible doubt and woe, " Emily, is this 
the history of the saints 1 We are betrayed, 
we are betrayed ! " 

This state of mind continued until late in the 
day, when with a supreme effort he threw off 
his work in Boston. But the battle was not 
yet done. Memory ran back along the pathway 
of his experience, and called up his mission- 
work in Lawrence. During the night he went 
over it all. The Band of Hope was before him ; 
funeral scenes, with their tears and breaking 
hearts, appealed to him for sympathy. He called 
the chiklren by name, prayed for them with 



198 A Life that Speaketh. 

his own inimitable tenderness, and besought his 
wife to gather them all in. ^' O the children, 
the dear children, the tender children ! " 

Then came the last struggle. As Thursday- 
morning dawned it began. He was not now 
pleading for rest, but for reputation. In his 
mania he saw himself, as in a court of justice, 
face to face with his traducers, bringing accusa- 
tions against his manhood, and striving to blast 
his character, dearer to him than life. Calling 
them by name, he challenged them to the trial. 
He met their charges with the impassioned elo- 
quence of outraged honesty and slandered vir- 
tue pleading for honor, as the innocent alone 
can plead. The contest was not long. He 
quickly finished his defense, and with a full, 
round voice signed it with his name — George P. 
Wilson. His life-work was done. He sank 
back exhausted, and lay in peaceful weariness. 

Shall we call the bright halo with which affec- 
tion invests the features of our earthly friends, 
the illumination of love, or the reflected lus- 
ter of invisible wings, or the glory of the Lord 
shining round the pillow of the dying saint, and 
casting an angelic beauty over the countenance ? 
It matters not. But as Mr. Wilson lay in calm 



The Closing Scenes, igg 

repose after his long struggle with the momentous 
facts of memory, a light as from the heavenly 
world seemed to play over his features, and 
herald the immediate advent of the transfigura- 
tion hour. 

In a few moments he fell asleep in Jesus. 
Thursday morning at eight o'clock he died. A 
fitting sentiment closed his eventful history. 
His last words were, " That is all ; it is done.'* 
And his loving Lord will yet assert, in the hear- 
ing of an assembled world, ''Well done!'* 

*' The weary hands had rest, 

The troubled heart repose ; 
The toiler was the Saviour's guest, 

Released from earthly woes." 

Saturday morning at eleven o'clock some 
ministerial friends gathered at the house for 
brief religious services, preparatory to the re- 
moval of his remains to Lawrence. His wife, 
prostrated by the incessant watchings and grief 
of those sad days, was unable to follow him to 
his final resting-place. With Christian resig- 
nation she gave the precious casket into the 
hands of Rev. Mr. Fisher, pastor of the First 
Congregational Church of Lawrence, for years a 
^eyoted friend of Mr. Wilson^ \vith t]iese touch^ 



200 A Life that Speaketh. 

ing words : '' Bury it tenderly ; I cannot go up. 
Take him withi you ; he was without stain ; he 
was a pure man — a faithful man. Take him to 
Lawrence, and let him rest there.'' 

The funeral services were held in the Gar- 
den-street Methodist Episcopal Church, Satur- 
day, July 12, at two P. M. The audience room 
was heavily draped, and crowded with the cit- 
izens and immediate friends. The exercises 
were exceedingly affecting. Rev. Dr. Clark, 
Presiding Elder of the Boston District, pre- 
sented the labors of the deceased in the Boston 
Mission. He spoke of the unanimity with 
which he had been called to that work. '' He 
was the one man," said he, " to whom all eyes 
turned ; and when the Board secured this man 
of God, they felt they had got the right man in 
the right place. His labors have justified the 
confidence reposed in him. His wisdom, his 
self-forgetful devotion, his enthusiasm, fitted 
him peculiarly for such a work. The obsta- 
cles, the little annoyances peculiar to his posi- 
tion, he met with courage — with a courage that 
the most renowned general that ever drew a 
sw^ord never surpassed. He never exhibited 
any feeling of discouragement ; his enthusiasm 



The Closing Scenes. 201 

ne^cer cooled. The Board honored his wisdom, 
respected his sage counsels, and the most clear- 
headed among them would hesitate long before 
refusing to accept them, and the result invaria- 
bly justified their confidence. Besides all this, 
nature made him a perfect gentleman, and his 
intercourse with all was pleasant. When the 
intelligence of his death became known men 
unused to weeping shed tears ; a feeling of 
deep sadness pervaded the community. The 
children loved him, and their little faces bright- 
ened at his approach. Though suddenly taken 
away, his influence and example still live. 
Though dead, he yet speaks — speaks through his 
noble example, his faith, his heroism. His life is 
a legacy of value that cannot be computed ; his 
life, as an example, -will remain, and be a power 
reaching far down into the future. Sainted 
brother, let thy mantle fall on us ! '* 

Rev. C. E. Fisher, the clergyman into whose 
hands his remains had been intrusted, followed 
with an eloquent tribute to his memory. He 
said : " Our work in Lawrence commenced in 
consecutive months. I think there is no one 
to whom I could better compare him than Ste- 
phen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Ghost. 



202 A Life that Speaketh. 

I know the heart of Lawrence, and I know that 
it loved him, and that it now mourns him. I 
thank God for such an example — such a grand 
example, so long manifested before this people, 
as that shown by this man of God. Of him we 
might say, as is said in one of John's epistles, 
' Hereby perceive we the love of God, because 
he laid down his life for us : and we ought to lay 
down our lives for the brethren.' 

" Our brother was also like John ; not only a 
loving heart had he, but his life was full of love. 
At times, like John, he was a Boanerges, a son 
of thunder ; but love was the inspiration of his 
fidelity. His life was, indeed, a beautiful exam- 
ple. Always at work for the Master : now on 
the Common, now in the Sunday-school, now in 
the jail preaching repentance and eternal life 
to the prisoners. In this work he was laying 
down his life for the brethren. It is not a hard 
thing to die. Many go unsummoned into eter- 
nity ; many seek death on the battle-field for 
fame ; but it is a difficult thing to lay down 
one's life for the brethren as he did. He loved 
every person in the city with a strong, disin- 
terested, unselfish love. From him the pastors 
derived much benefit. The young men and 



The Closing Scenes, 203 

young women, and especially those who had 
grown up in the Band of Hope, are deeply in- 
debted to him. God will bless his memory to 
us, and his work will live on and on forever." 

Rev. Mr. Mallaheu related the experiences of 
his last days, and closed with touching words 
of eulogy. 

After a few reminiscences of his spirit of 
sacrifice in connection with the Garden-street 
Methodist Episcopal Church by its pastor. Rev. 
Mr. Cushman, the services were concluded with 
prayer, singing, and the benediction. The re- 
mains were then transferred to the vestibule 
for the last look of love. 

The scene here will never be forgotten. The 
surging masses made movement almost impos- 
sible. The large vestry was filled with children, 
members of the Band of Hope, while the adja- 
cent streets were packed with a weeping multi- 
tude. Women with faded shawls and garments, 
betokening poverty, crowded into the vestibule, 
their eyes streaming with tears, to take a final 
view of their best earthly friend. These were 
*' his children " — the poor of whom he had 
spoken with such emotion in his farewell words. 
The funeral procession wended its way, through 



204 -^ Life that Speaketh. 

the streets that had so often witnessed his pas- 
sage on missions of mercy, to the cemetery 
overlooking the city. Tearfully he was laid 
away among his friends. A monument is about 
to be erected over his grave by the loving con- 
tributions of those with whom he lived, and for 
whom he labored so many years. 

In the Lawrence cemetery lie the remains of 
the first soldier stricken down in the great Re- 
bellion. The city has reared a fitting monument 
to his memory. May the name of Needham, 
the first martyr in the strife that exterminated 
slavery in the Republic, never be forgotten ! But 
in that cemetery there lies one dearer to the 
heart of Lawrence than he ; it is Wilson, the 
first city missionary. He might lie in an un- 
marked grave and have a monument still. His 
friends will never rear a shaft half as enduring 
as the love they bear him. His best monument 
is hidden in human hearts. 

Memorial services were held in almost every 
church in Lawrence, and the life reviewed and 
its lessons impressed on the bereaved Churches. 
The blow fell heavily on his brethren in the 
ministry. The Boston Preachers' Meeting 
appointed a committee to draft resolutions 



The Closing Scenes, 205 

expressive of its feelings, and suggest such other 
action as might seem fitting. 

The resolutions it adopted were as follows : — 
*^ Resolvedy i. That we feel a profound sense 
of individual bereavement in the sudden re- 
moval of our beloved brother, Rev. George P. 
Wilson, from the activities of this life ; a be- 
reavement so personal as to lead us to inquire 
of God what special lessons he designs to teach 
us in permitting such a mysterious providence 
to befall our Conference, Church, and city. 

" Resohedy 2. That we cannot too highly em- 
phasize our estimate of the peculiar worth of 
our departed brother : — a man of pure speech, 
rare affability, and courteousness of manner, 
gladdening every family circle he entered with 
his genial conversation, and captivating, with 
a special grace and charm, the truthful heart 
of childhood : a genuine Christian gentleman ; 
like his Master, a man of sorrows, choosing the 
Christ-like office of ministering to the lowly and 
sad, cheering them with a wonderful inspiration, 
and bearing on his tender sympathies the bur- 
den of their woes : a fearless champion of the 
weak and tempted, exposing with unsparing 
fidelity and royal courage the wickedness of the 



2o6 A Life that Speaketh. 

corrupters of youth, and the criminal indiflfer- 
ence of many who claim social respectability: 
a wise manager of interests intrusted to his 
supervision : a genial, fascinating speaker, both 
to old and young ; rising at times to the higher 
excellences of fervent eloquence ; and though 
without professional training, yet heartily wel- 
comed in pulpits of all denominations : a model 
husband and father, making home all that Chris- 
tianity signifies by the word : a warm, trustful, 
steadfast friend : a devoted disciple of the Lord 
Jesus : — in short, a man possessing a greater va- 
riety of excellent traits and qualities, and having 
them more harmoniously adjusted and devel- 
oped, than is usual in our imperfect humanity. 

''Resolved^ 3. That we deplore the great loss 
our Church has sustained in this city, and we 
supplicate Almighty God that he will overrule 
this event, so that the society that pressed so 
heavily on his life may not be paralyzed by his 
unexpected departure. 

'' Resolved, 4. That we tender our deepest 
sympathies to the bereaved family, praying that 
divine strength may be imparted to the widow 
and fatherless, and that God will always be pres- 
ent to bless and comfort the blighted home." 



The Closing Scenes, 207 

The committee also suggested that the facts 
of Mr. Wilson's life should be gathered up and 
published in a brief memoir for the benefit of 
the Christian public, and the writer of this biog- 
raphy was requested to perform the task. A 
memorial service was appointed, and Rev. W. R. 
Clark, D. D., selected to preach a discourse 
appropriate to the occasion. 

On the following Sabbath afternoon a large 
and deeply affected audience gathered in the 
Broadway Church, South Boston, to share in 
these memorial services. The City Missionary 
Society was represented by nearly all of its offi- 
cial members, and the various pastors of the 
city and vicinity were present to participate. 
An eloquent and exceedingly appropriate dis- 
course was delivered from Philippians i, 21, "For 
to me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

The following morning the Boston Preachers' 
Meeting gave its entire session to prayer and 
tributes of affection. Personal reminiscences 
were related by Rev. J. W. Barnes, for many 
years one of his most intimate friends, and Rev. 
W. H. Hatch, a companion in his California 
life. H. G. Herrick, Esq., High Sheriff of Essex 
County, for a long time a Sabbath-school teacher 



2o8 A Life that Speaketh. 

with Mr. Wilson in the jail at Lawrence, gave 
a most eloquent and touching tribute to his 
memory, and his work among the prisoners. 
He referred to his wonderful power over the 
most hardened criminals, his Christ-like sym- 
pathy, and with tears that would flow, and 
with emotions he could scarcely control, pro- 
nounced him one of the most remarkable men 
he had ever known ; remarkable for his per- 
sonal unselfishness and devotion to the suffering 
and tempted, and especially for the wonderful 
influence with which he lifted up the most 
abandoned men, and inspired them with manly 
motives. 

Said one of these unfortunate victims of vice, 
'* Mr. Wilson never gave me money, but O, he 
cheered me so in my despair ! " 

It is with no common feelings of pleasure 
that we present the following letters from Chris- 
tian men who have been associated with Mr. 
Wilson in his Lawrence labors. The first is 
from Mr. Herrick, of whom we have just spoken ; 
the second from Rev. George Packard, D. D., 
pastor of the Grace Episcopal Church of Law- 
rence, and President of the City Mission from 
its formation to the present time : — 



The Closing Scenes, 209 

" Lawrence, Jan, 20, 1874. 

*' Rev. D. C, Knowles : — 

'' My Dear Sir : I am very glad to know 
you purpose writing a memoir of our friend, 
the late George P. Wilson. I am sure you will 
write of him con amore^ for you knew and loved 
the man, and sympathized with his work. You 
knew the qualities of mind and heart which 
made him the best-fitted man I ever saw for 
the work God called him to — a city missionary 
and a prison chaplain. 

"Of him and his work as City Missionary 
you knew better than I, but in his work and 
office as Chaplain at the Jail and House of Cor- 
rection I think I knew him better than you, 
and, in some respects, than any one else except 
his faithful and devoted wife, than whom no 
one entered more entirely and heartily into, or 
understood more thoroughly, all his work as a 
Christian man and minister. 

** When I carne in January, 1866, to the office 

which I have the honor to hold, I found Mr. 

Wilson Chaplain of the Essex County House 

of Correction, in this city. To this office he 

had been appointed several years before, and 

continued to hold it until his removal to Boston. 
U 



2IO A Life that Speaketh. 

" My acquaintance with him began nearly 
three years before, but it was not until we were 
thrown together at the House of Correction 
that I began to know him. From that time 
I knew him more and more; and to know him 
was to esteem him, to honor him, to love him. 

^^For six years, with very few exceptions, I 
saw him every Sabbath, both at the preaching 
and Sunday-school services, and often during 
the week. I welcomed him, as we all did — 
officers, inmates, Sunday-school teachers, sing- 
ers — as he came into the prison with his cheerful, 
happy face, a kind and loving word for all of us. 
I have seen cheerful and happy men, but never 
one so uniformly so, or one who threw such a 
light and glow about him, who so communicated 
his own cheerfulness to others. And here lay 
one great source of his usefulness. 

" He never repelled any man, woman, or child — 
certainly never a child — by look, or act, or word 
of coldness, or severity, or even indifference ; and 
yet he possessed a fine and accurate power of dis- 
cernment and discrimination of character, and of 
character, too, such as he saw in a prison. 

" Seldom was he deceived by the shams and 
pretenses of which one sees so much there. It 



The Closing Scenes. 211 

was a most remarkable quality in him, partly- 
acquired but largely a natural endowment. He 
did not shut his heart against a man ; hold 
him off at arm's length, and coolly study and 
analyze him ; he rather took the man's hand, 
and walked along with him as he went. 

" If I have had any success in prison govern- 
ment and management, it has been largely 
attributable to the personal influence of George 
P. Wilson during the period of his chaplaincy. 

" The influence of his Sunday services — his 
preaching, his praying, his singing, his private 
conversations with the prisoners — ran through 
all the week. He impressed himself upon them. 
His simplicity and purity of character, his sin- 
cerity and personal interest in every one, were 
recognized and felt. 

*' I doubt if he ever got through his first 
prayer at the Sunday morning service without 
bringing tears from many eyes. Few could 
resist the tenderness with which he remem- 
bered and invoked blessings upon fathers and 
mothers at home, across the great waters, or 
among the hills and valleys of New Hampshire 
and Maine ; upon husbands and wives and little 
children crying for bread, or wandering about 



212 A Life that Speaketh. 

the streets with none to care for them. How 
he would cry out, * O God, save the poor home- 
less Httle children ! ' 

*' His addresses to prisoners were not elab- 
orately prepared sermons, as if to be addressed 
to men and women educated in churches and 
Christian homes, and familiar with the ordinary 
phrases that express Christian experience, that 
are heard in conference and class-meetings, 
or in Christian conversation. They were not 
mere moral lectures or dry doctrinal arguments. 
They were simple, plain, practical Christian 
words, adapted to the condition of his hearers, 
touching their homes, their daily work, and 
daily lives. He tried to awaken desires for 
better homes, and better lives for themselves 
and their children ; appealing to them as fathers 
and mothers, husbands and wives, or children, 
but never forgetting to tell them of Jesus as 
their best friend and Saviour, and of the love 
of the heavenly Father, though with no soft 
and apologizing words for sin, or patience with 
laziness and vagrancy. He had an apparently 
inexhaustible fund of anecdote and story, always 
appropriate, never coarse or low, furnishing 
illustration and enforcement of his subject at 



The Closing Scenes. 213 

once apt and forcible, as well as oftentimes 
inexpressibly touching. 

"Although he had nothing to do with the 
discipline of the prison, he had well-considered 
and decided views on the subject of prison gov- 
ernment. He was a believer in good, whole- 
some, thorough discipline, and in punishment 
when deserved and because deserved ; nor did 
he believe that for the State to punish men for 
their crimes was an assumption of the Divine 
prerogative. 

" Having as much charity and hope and faith 
as any man I ever saw, they never led him into 
wild and idle rhapsodies ; and while they opened 
his heart to all sorrow and suffering, they did 
not close his eyes to the great depravity and 
wickedness, and weakened will, which place 
some men on the extremest verge of hope and 
faith — if not quite beyond it — and make their 
reformation, if not impossible, hardly to be ex- 
pected. 

" So much, my dear sir, in answer to your 
inquiries concerning Mr. Wilson's connection 
with the prison here. It was a work of which 
the public knew but little, but in which he took 
the deepest interest. It was not only very 



214 -^ Life that Speaketh. 

greatly useful in a general way, and as a con- 
stant aid in the government of the prison, but 
in very many instances saved men and women 
to sober, industrious, virtuous, and some, I 
doubt not, to Christian lives. 

" Very truly yours, H. G. Herrick." 

** Lawrence, yan, 22, 1874. 
" Rev. D. C. Knowles : — 

"My Dear Sir: I cheerfully comply with 
your request that I should tell you what I 
knew of the late Mr. George P. Wilson. I 
became acquainted with him upon his first 
coming to Lawrence ; and as years passed 
on he was better known by me as a young 
man who, in the station of life in which God's 
providence had placed him, was desirous of 
serving faithfully both his God and his fellow- 
man. Fidelity to trust was ever his prominent 
characteristic. 

" As our town grew, and it was necessary to 
organize some provision to meet the demands 
for sympathy and relief that the poor made 
upon us, a Provident Association was formed, in 
whose operations he manifested a truly Chris- 
tian, warm-hearted interest. It was soon ascer- 



The Closmg Scenes, 215 

tained that instead of depending upon those 
who were engaged in business for examining 
into the appHcations for relief, and affording 
the aid in our power, we must, if possible, 
secure some one to whom all this could be 
intrusted. A committee was appointed who 
reported the organization under which we have 
now for fourteen years been acting, and the ap- 
pointment of George P. Wilson as a City Mis- 
sionary, who should look after the poor and 
dispose of the charities to be placed in his 
hands for their relief. The report was adopted, 
and Mr. Wilson was chosen to the responsible 
and laborious office of missionary to the poor. 

" To the work assigned him he gave his body 
and mind and heart. Acting as chairman of 
the Board of Advice from its formation, I was 
necessarily made particularly acquainted with 
his plans of work and the manner of their exe- 
cution. He so unreservedly opened his heart 
to me that I think I knew him well. From his 
consultations with me, I was more and more 
impressed with the singleness of his purpose, 
and the earnestness of his desire to do what- 
ever the wants of the poor and the proper exe- 
cution of his trust required of him. 



2i6 A Life that Speaketh. 

" Although of decided rehgious views, there 
was a most conscientious avoidance of every 
thing which might seem to be sectarian, and he 
went about striving to do good, in the spirit of 
his Master, to the bodies and souls of men. In 
his visitations of the poor and sick ; in his sym- 
pathizing ministrations to the afflicted ; in his 
love and care for the children every -where mani- 
fested, but particularly in the sewing school 
which he established and in the temperance 
organization known as the Band of Hope ; in 
the great interest he ever took in our Sunday- 
schools, where he was always welcomed as a 
visitor and speaker ; in his labors in the even- 
ing school for adults which he formed and con- 
ducted for many years — in all he proved himself 
a faithful, untiring, devoted servant of his Lord' 
and Master. The poor blessed him, and the 
children loved him, for to all he gave a loving 
smile and a cheering word. 

" His annual reports to the Churches which 
appointed the Board of Advice were heard and 
read with great interest. In sentiment and in 
apt and forcible expression they indicated a 
mind of more than ordinary power, and a heart 
sanctified by the Spirit of God. 



The Closing Scenes, 217 

"The proposition for him to enter another, 
and in many respects a more important, sphere 
of labor, was frequently and seriously discussed 
by us. I felt that we could not have him leave 
his work here ; and when the proposition was 
again and again renewed, and at last he made 
up his mind it was his duty to accept it, I was 
assured that he possessed qualities of mind and 
heart that eminently fitted him for the work to 
which he was called, and that, if his life were 
spared, he would prove himself there, as he had 
here, a faithful, energetic, and successful worker 
for the cause of Christ and the good of man. 
" Very truly yours, 

'^George Packard." 



2i8 A Life that Speaketh." 



CHAPTER XL 

PERSONAL RECOLLECTIOXS. 

ly J R. WILSON and I met for the first time 
-^^ -^ in April, 1867. I had been transferred 
from a distant field of labor to the pastorate of 
the Haverhill-street Church, in Lawrence. The 
first Sabbath evening I spent in the city I at- 
tended a temperance meeting in the Lawrence- 
street Congregational Church, in company with 
H. G. Herrick, Esq. 'Mr. Wilson was one of 
the speakers. As he came before the audience 
Mr. Herrick informed me who he was, and, with 
a few words of eulog}^, said he wished me to 
make his acquaintance at an early day. 

His speech stirred my heart. It was so in- 
tense, so manifestly the expression of a genuine 
soul, who had nothing in \'iew in standing where 
he did but the good of men, that I felt drawTi 
to him with an irresistible longing to know him 
better. After the meeting was dismissed we 
met. Never shall I forget that look, that grasp 
of the hand. It strengthened me like the power 



Personal Recollections, 219 

of prayer. His loving welcome to the stranger 
minister ; his genial face ; his expressed hope 
that we might stand' side by side in holding up 
the crucified One ; his outgushing, trustful 
manner, made me love him at once — a love 
that deepened and intensified as the years 
moved on. 

April 5, 1868, Mr. Wilson and myself were 
ordained elders at the altar of my church by 
Bishop Ames. I recall with pleasure the occa- 
sion. A crowded audience was awaiting the 
commencement of the services. I was seated 
in the pew fronting the pulpit. Suddenly I was 
conscious of a companion, and, looking up, saw 
Mr. Wilson seeking a seat by my side. With 
his own inimitable manner, he said, " My 
brother, I want to sit by you to-day." It is a 
reminiscence that I sacredly cherish that we 
knelt side by side in being set apart for the 
work of the ministry by the formalities of con- 
secration, and hand to hand on the sacred Word 
received authority to read and expound the 
blessed truths of the Bible. 

I must ever regard my acquaintance with Mr. 
Wilson an epoch in my Christian experience. 
He has taught me some of the richest lessons 



220 A Life that Speaketh. 

of life ; not so much by what he said, though 
his conversation was most useful, as by the 
spirit and power of his example. Our common 
ministry for the good of men threw us much 
together. Occasionally I preached for him in 
the jail, and he for me in my pulpit. Very 
frequently we met in public meetings on the 
Common and in the City Hall. Our social in- 
tercourse was usually brief but cheery. Busi- 
ness was too pressing to admit of waste of time, 
even for the purpose of friendship. Once I saw 
him in trying circumstances. For weeks he lay 
sick with a painful and protracted disease. My 
visits invariably impressed me with his wonder- 
ful patienfce, his sweet resignation, and inex- 
haustible wealth of hope. He seemed as con- 
tented to suffer as to work. His smile of 
recognition was as full of interest and brotherly 
tenderness as if he felt no pain flowing in tor- 
turing currents through his frame. 

One occasion I shall ever ren ember. It was 
in the summer of 187 1. I was passing a few 
days with my family at- Hampton Beach. Mr. 
Wilson came down from Lawrence for a short 
respite from his official duties. We met upon 
the shore, and passed the time together talking 



Personal Recollections, 221 

picking pebbles, and listening to God's great 
loom as it wove its snowy necklaces along the 
curving beach. He was then contemplating 
his Boston enterprise, and we went over the 
subject and considered it in its probable results 
for good or evil. In all that conversation one 
thought betrayed itself as the uppermost in his 
mind — the will of God. The thought of self 
was humbled in the presence of nobler ends. 

After his removal to Boston we met weekly 
at the Preachers' Meeting. And here I chide 
myself for blindness of perception. In the 
presence of history, I feel somewhat condemned 
for having been so undiscerning as not to have 
seen what now is so apparent, that in silence 
he was slaying himself with toil. Oftentimes 
we dined together at the restaurant, and talked 
of each other s interests in a general way. I now 
recall an unwonted sadness, a weariness of man- 
ner entirely foreign to his usual vivacity, but it 
made little impression upon me at that time. I 
never suspected he was languishing with over- 
work. On several occasions he urged me to visit 
his home, but in every instance engagements 
and professional duties made it impossible. I 
now regret it deeply. Our conversation at 



222 A Life that Speaketh. 

Hampton Beach had turned upon the nature of 
the Boston work, and I had expressed fears that 
he might find it too burdensome for his strength ; 
and possibly had I gone with him to his home 
he might have disclosed to me the load that 
was pressing him into the grave, and thus have 
given me the privilege of sounding the alarm. 
But regrets now are unavailing. The warrior 
is both unclothed and clothed upon. Our con- 
solation now must come from the experimental 
testimony of the seer of Patmos : " And I heard 
a voice from heaven saying unto me. Write, 
Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord 
from henceforth : Yea, saith the Spirit, that 
they may rest from their labors ; and their 
works do follow them." 

In person Mr. Wilson was about five feet 
eight inches in height ; body finely propor- 
tioned ; head well-shaped, medium size, and 
covered with coal-black hair, straight and 
smooth ; full beard, thick and glossy ; small 
dark eyes, that sparkled and flashed with the 
varying emotions of his soul. His smile was 
peculiarly fascinating, and in his richest moods, 
a witchery of enjoyable feeling played over every 
feature of his face. His step was firm and quick, 



Personal Recollections, 223 

indicating decision, purpose, and energy. No 
man of any discernment would have met him 
on the street and passed him without the im- 
pression that he had a Hfe-work, and was vig- 
orously seeking its accomplishment. His man- 
ners were especially pleasing and courteous, 
displaying not so much the conventional re- 
finements of artistic society as those natural 
and ingenuous attitudes and movements that 
are the unstudied expressions of high integrity, 
lofty virtue, and native dignity. He was na- 
ture's gentleman, unspoiled by self-conscious 
art. 

His conversation was practical, never specu- 
lative. He lived too much amid suffering and 
pressing want to devote much time to curious 
questions. If tempted to indulge in trivial 
distinctions, he was quickly called to duty by 
the sharp cry of distress, reminding him of his 
Master's injunctions to Peter: ''What is that to 
thee.^ Follow thou me." The subjects that 
interested him most were the living questions 
of the present. On these he talked fluently, 
wisely, and instructively. 

His speech was always pure. Slang was 
especially offensive to him. He never heard a 



224 A Life that Speaketh. 

jest uttered, tinged with the slightest hue of 
vulgarity, without an involuntary expression of 
disgust and pain. His soul was not only free 
from that class of thoughts, but it was particu- 
larly sensitive to their presence. He mingled 
freely with the wicked, but was not one of 
them. He listened from necessity to the most 
corrupting language, but was not contaminated 
by it. The intercessory prayer of Jesus was 
answered in his experience ; he was kept from 
the evil of the world. 

This purity of speech and thought made him 
a social favorite with the good. He had but 
little time to devote to the pastimes of society, 
but no one was more welcomed in Christian 
homes than he. His advent brought gladness 
to every circle he entered. 

In reflecting upon the character of Mr. Wil- 
son, I have been profoundly impressed with the 
healthiness of his affections. There is very 
much that is called love in modern society that 
bears upon it traces of disease — evidences of in- 
flammation. It would be more properly termed 
sentimentalism than love. Sentimentalism is 
feeling without intelligent principle. A senti- 
mentalist affects pathos, fine emotions, talks much 



Personal Recollections, 22$ 

of charity without stating its necessary limita- 
tions, loves excitement for its own sake, values 
feeling more than right action, covets tears 
more than godliness. Such a type of emo- 
tional life is produced and cultivated by our 
modern fictitious literature, and nourished by 
so-called sensational preaching ; and may be 
truthfully said to be one of the striking char- 
acteristics of latter-day Christianity. There is 
in this order of feeUng a certain emotional de- 
liciousness, not unlike the coveted sensations 
of the dram drinker. 

This is not love, it is spiritual intoxication, 
produced by dramatic and pathetic pictures of 
the tortures of the cross, and the varied affect- 
ing experiences of human life. Such repre- 
sentations, moderately indulged, are not harm- 
ful — -nay, on the contrary, they may be highly 
beneficial ; but a literature or ministry chiefly 
noted for power in that direction may be pro- 
nounced by superficial thinkers extraordinarily 
successful, because of apparent results, but in 
reality the end of it is highly pernicious. 

A feeling may be spurious as well as genu- 
ine. Its character is to be determined by its 
origin. Feeling may prompt a man to do an 

15 



226^ A Life that Speaketh. 

act noble in itself without a particle of reward- 
able principle at its root. No man of discrim- 
ination would pronounce every soldier who fell 
on the battle-field in defense of the Republic 
during our late war a genuine patriot. He 
may have served the purposes of patriotism 
without the feeling. It cannot be a matter of 
dispute that many of them had no intelligent 
love of country inspiring their heroism. The 
feelings of an army are inflammable. The 
truly patriotic may inspire with excitement, not 
patriotism, masses who do noble deeds, caring 
all the while but little for the issues involved in 
the bloody strife. 

Multitudes would fight as vaHantly on one 
side as another ; they go with the current of 
impulse. 

We fear there is somewhat of this element 
attaching itself to the Christian Church. Paul, 
no doubt, had his eye on this unhealthy type of 
feeling when he wrote the thirteenth chapter of 
First Corinthians : — 

** Though I speak with the tongues of men 
and of angels, and have not charity, (love,) I am 
become as sounding brass, or a tinkhng cymbal. 
. . . And though I bestow all my goods to feed 



Personal Recollections, 227 

the poor, and though I give my body to be 
burned, and have not love, it profiteth me 
nothing." 

Now it cannot be denied that under the 
powerful pressure of feeling the sentimentalist 
will give all his property, and call it benevo- 
lence ; or lay down his life, and pronounce it 
sacrifice. But it still remains that the act, 
however good in itself, does not prove the 
genuineness of the feeling. 

Paul has been pleased in the same chapter to 
define love without the taint of disease, and I 
cannot but apply that masterly analysis to Mr. 
Wilson. 

'' Love suffereth long, and is kind ; love envi- 
eth not ; love vaunteth not itself, is not puffed 
up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh 
not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh 
no evil ; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth 
in the truth ; beareth all things, believeth all 
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things ; 
love never faileth." 

Such were the characteristics of the love of 
the lamented dead. It was deep enough, and 
strong enough, and pure enough, to work out 
all these results in his life-ministry. He often 



228 A Life that Speaketh. 

shed tears at the tale of his Master's sufferings, 
but they were not shed in vain. Every tear 
was born of deep principle, of implicit obedience 
to God's will, and was invariably followed by 
some heroic devotion to his Saviour. He often 
wept over the anguish of humanity, but the 
emotions did not end with weeping. He went 
forth to help, to bear burdens, and to die. This 
is healthy love ; all else is counterfeit, though 
it dissolve itself into tears. 

The question may be silently asked by the 
reader, Had Mr. Wilson no faults, no glaring 
weaknesses } Possibly he had, but I never de- 
tected them. In common with us all, he was 
liable to mistakes of judgment ; but it is my 
candid conviction that I have never known a 
more symmetrical character. I have questioned 
myself closely upon this very point, without 
being able to discover a glaring defect in his 
mental or moral organization.. I have known 
greater men in some lines, but none better bal- 
anced. I have questioned others, who have 
been much more intimate with him than my- 
self, and the only weakness spoken of was a 
tendency to refer often in" public addresses to 
his sainted mother. Most pardonable weak- 



Personal Recollections. 229 

ness ! That mother's memory was to him 
second only to his Saviours. We can well 
forgive, in these days of filial recklessness, an 
attachment so strong and a gratitude so deep, 
that it must find expression in tearful eulogies. 
May society be blessed with more such sons ! 

The task to which I have been called in 
God's providence is done. Deeply sensible of 
its incompleteness in execution, I can only 
trust that the influence of this precious life 
may never be lost. May it linger with us, as 
sanctified evidence that man can approximate 
very closely, through grace, to the spirit and 
temper of the Lord Jesus Christ ! 



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